As discussed in this post related to category counting: https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=7762.0 (https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=7762.0)
This request is for the addition of a category variable that returns directly assigned categories not including alias categories. Perhaps {File.Categories.DirectNoAlias}.
This request is not to change the behavior of the variable {File.Categories.Direct} for the reason Mario indicated in his first response.
Thanks for considering.
+1
This feature has been implemented for IMatch 2018.
Excellent. Thanks Mario!