Show Hidden Files in Mac OS X
Command Line, Mac OS X, Tips & Tricks - February 25th, 2009 - 9 Comments
If you find yourself needing to access hidden files on your Mac (say an .htaccess file you downloaded), run the below command from the terminal.
For those who don’t know, files that are hidden in Mac OS are determined so by preceding the filename with a single period symbol (.), you can actually make any file hidden by doing this.
Show Hidden Files on your Mac
Launch the Terminal and enter these commands exactly as shown. The first command activates the ability to see the hidden files:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
Now you must relaunch the Finder by killing it, this is how the changes take effect:
killall Finder
If you want to hide hidden files again (those preceded with a .) and go back to the default Mac settings, you can just type the following:
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Again you will need to kill the Finder so that it can relaunch for changes to take effect:
killall Finder
That’s all there is to it!
Show Hidden Files in a Mac Save Dialogue
You can quickly show all hidden files in any Mac OS X save dialogue box by hitting Command+Shift+Period
Show Hidden Files on your Mac through the Terminal
Another way to quickly see hidden files is by using the ls command within the Terminal, at the command line type the following:
ls -a
The -a flag tells the ls (list) command to show all contents, including hidden files. You then just have to specify a directory if you want to see the hidden files in it:
ls -a ~/Sites/betasite
This method does not effect the Finder or the visibility of hidden files outside of using the -a flag.
There is a simple app you can install to do this, called “Blind” Check it out here: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/22495/blind
or you could type in that command into the terminal which is far easier…. and also… this is old news how to do this in mac os x… old ancient news…
Instead of YES it Should be TRUE
Try iTweax for a change. By far the best tweaking tool for osx.
It even has Safari4 beta support.
http://www.itweax.net
Tnomeralc, I’ve found an easy way to hide folders without buying an application. First, use the command listed above to show hidden files. Then, rename the folder you’d like to hide by adding a dot (.) at the beginning of the name. For example, “MyFolder” would become “.MyFolder”
After that, hide the folders again and you’re all set!
Hope that helps!
[...] can actually set Mac OS X to display hidden files by issuing a command in the Terminal. This will expose your hidden folder completely within the [...]
[...] you want a more permanent solution so that you can always see the files, check out our article to show hidden files on Mac OS, which offers a command to always see the hidden files even within the [...]
Sooo simple! though I’ve been a Mac user since 1987 I’ve never needed to hide a file. Now I do and I did in a few seconds. Thanxxxx
Oh, please don’t be a crybaby ac_poster, MacOsXHints don’t owe hints and tips, they’re available for anyone – not copyrighted or nothing, so stop your whining and be happy for new Mac Users. Old ancient news you say, for whom? Those who have known for a while? For newbies it is News. – Instead consider this: Try search the internet for ’show hidden files 10.6′. The first two hits are open/save dialogues, the third hit is this page. Instead try improving macosxhints’ GUI, it is not User Friendly when you find your tip in the comments below (jantonc)..