Question: I tried making a custom command for my terminal. I'm running Mac OS X Version 10.6.6.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Opened the terminal
2. Typed "ls -a" and saw a ".bash\_profile" file
3. Typed "vi .bash\_profile" and saw that the file was empty
4. Added the following to the top of the file: "test() { echo hi }"
5. Saved the vi session by typing ":wq"

Then, I was back to the terminal, and typed "test", however nothing outputted (namely, I didn't see "hi").

So, what am I doing wrong? Thanks!

Answer: 
try to force re-evaluation of file by typing `source .bash_profile`
I know this is pretty late, but for future people who google this question, here's what you need to do:

When you edit the bash.profile file, you need to use the `alias` command. For example: `alias [name]="[script]"`
Since you are trying to make a test command that sends an output of "hi", you would enter *test* where [name] is, and *echo hi* where [script] is. Do not forget to use quotations around the script