What are the Finder's hidden "._[file name]" files for?

R

remain


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I know ".DS_Store" is for Window size/position, views, etc.
but occasionally,
a "._[file name of some file in that folder]" appears.

What is it for?
And what is it that I did to make these files appear?
 
novicew

novicew


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They serve different purposes. Mostly Unix system has hidden files to keep the information about the user preferences (similar to .plist files). Eg. .vimrc defines Vim.App behavior for a specific user.

Here is more information.
 
cazabam

cazabam


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The files you specifically mentioned are to store OS X specific metadata on the file. XFS+ can store this information directly in the filesystem so these files to not appear, but external FAT32 drives (for example) cannot embed this metadata so it is stored in a hidden file alongside.
 

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