One added bonus of such file tree bookmarks via variables (over a similar `alias a='cd foo'`) is that if you get muscle-memory/active memory for those few abbreviations other use cases like `make -C $a` also work. I usually leave `$hb` & `$lb` set to `$HOME/bin` and `/usr/local/bin`, for example.
I have this alternative in my zsh config:
# BOOKMARKS (mark b)
declare -x -A bookmarks
bookmarks=(
d "$HOME/Desktop"
dd "$HOME/Downloads"
c "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME"
)
for key value in ${(kv)marks}; do
hash -d $key=$value
done
I see at least two downsides: 1) now you have to remember to say `make -C ~c` { not `make -C $c` which I think most would find more natural } 2) the hash cannot be exported to inheriting subprocesses like a regular scalar $var.
Of course, 1) is kind of weak since you can also use "~var" most places. It's just not as familiar to many as $var.
One notable equivalency is that Zsh prompt escapes for $PS1 and friends like %~ would treat both the same - converting them to a "~c" inside your prompt.
So, in terms of "looking like what you type", that maybe makes ~c better. Maybe there is some setopt to make Zsh expand %~ as $c or $dd? Not sure. There are a lot of setopts.
Anyway, I actually use the exporting feature to non-Zsh subprocesses myself. So, I'm pretty locked-in to vars not just hash entries.
my-expand() BUFFER=${(e)BUFFER} CURSOR=$#BUFFER
zle -N my-expand # Make Alt-E expand environ vars w/o val escape
bindkey '^[e' my-expand # Allows eVar "short cuts" for history !!:gs etc
As per the comment I did this so that I could have "history substitution expressions" stored in variables, then Alt-E - look (& maybe edit) & ENTER.
The history syntax itself is very cryptic, derived from early 1980s BSD csh. As with most such crypticnesses, figuring it out once, storing it somewhere you can remember, and expanding it on demand is a not awful way to learn it.
But besides cryptic history directives you could also use it for the `$a<Alt-E>` above to "see before you do". You need an extra `$`, though, as written. It would be pretty easy to auto-add a `$` prefix in `my-expand`, though (with Alt-E just becoming a sort of different kind of TAB for expansion rather than completion).