I often run local sites from a projects folder that is stored in a dropbox folder the full path is long, so instead of using the full path I create an alias in the terminal which is a shortcut to that path. This means instead of typing:
cd ~/"Dropbox (Personal)/projects
I can type:
projects
To do this open your bash profile:
nano ~/.bash_profile
Then create the alias:
#alias
alias projects='cd ~/"Dropbox (Personal)/projects"'
Restart the terminal then type your shortcut and press enter to be taken to the aliased location.
Aliases are really useful and simple to set up.