Yes, mouser, that's what I'd like to see back...
For example, I have a batch file called enable.bat that I can use to enable different things on my computer, such as my wireless lan (wlan). I've created an alias regex (^enable (.*)?) that calls the batch file. I used to be able to type en, press tab to auto-complete to enable, type the argument, wlan, and press Enter to execute. At least that's how I think I remember it... perhaps I had to type a space before wlan though? Like many others, I'm a Launchy convert and am most familiar/comfortable with how that works.
Returning the old functionality would make me happy, but another +1 on suggestions from kartal and s.newave.