hidden files

[nbehar]

Hi,

Is there such a thing as hidden files in OS X? Is there a way i can make files invisible?

Thanks

 

[MacHeadCase]

You could always go to Macupdate.com and search for the word file invisible, you'll get plenty of hits. I can't recommend any, I haven't used any so have no idea what works well or not.

 

[RiDE]

to show the Hidden files using the terminal type (better yet.. copy/paste) the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES;killall Finder


Then to HIDE the "Hidden Files" Type (again, might want to just copy/paste) the following in the Terminal:

defaults delete com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles;killall Finder

You can also use the Onyx Parameters to "Show Hidden Files"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To make a hidden Folder that can not be seen do the following:

Make a new folder somewhere easy for you to remember... To do this:
1) Open the finder window go into the "Home" Folder (will place it there).
2) Right click on an empty part of the finder Window.. select "New Folder".
3) Name the folder.. Let's use "p0rn"... Just for fun
4) Now go into the Terminal and type (best to copy/paste) the following:

mv ~/p0rn ~/.p0rn

Press enter after pasting the command
Note the "." in front of the second folder name

5) The folder and any/all of the contents within it are HIDDEN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that the the folder is hidden the easiest way to get back into the contents it open the the Finder window go the the "HOME" folder (see.. No "p0rn" folder)... Now press APPLE+SHIFT+G
A Window will roll out of the top of the finder window that Says: "Go To Folder:" Type the following (don't forget the ".") .p0rn
press ENTER

Viola... you are in your "hidden" folder, and can now access your... um... stuff.

NOTE: Anyone with a little terminal savvy can use the terminal to find hidden files, so it's not exactly secure... though you could drop an encrypted .DMG image in the hidden folder that requires a password... THAT would be hidden, and secure if found.

 

[AnthonyJK]

Wouldn't "mkdir ~/.pr0n" be faster?!

That would be a hassle though, you would have to clear out your recent folders under "Go" and recent files under the Apple icon and also youd have to clear the "Go to folder" search field.

What some people will do to hide there pr0n hahaha

 

[Brown Study]

Ride, OS 9 lets you easily manipulate X's files, even the system's. Think of the power!

I'll sell you my G4 with 9 loaded for, oh, I duuno, $5,000.

 

[the8thark]

XRay

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7559/xray

And when you look at a file in that app, there's a check box to turn on/off the visibility.

 

[nicu]

beeing in a folder in finder for example "HOME" some times i need to see the hidden files/folders from it because they contain some config files for the servers I'm runing

how to do that without pain ? because the methods mentioned here are killing the finder, and if I have lots of finder opened with speciffic folders then this is not a solution to have to reopen them for hundred of times :-/

as temporary solution I do use the "muCommander", but hey, isn't finder cool ? let's use it at full power and teach a new commer to mac how to use it more productively.

thanks

 

[Brown Study]

Versiontracker.com and macupdate.com have an app called Invisibles that toggles the files visible to invisible and back again. There's also a read-only AppleScript somewhere around that does the same thing.

However, since some of the invisible files that are made visible are in the System folder, you won't have permission to access them without more fiddling, which is why I use System 9 to manipulate them, as mentioned above.

 

[voiceofra]

In terminal
mv folder .folder
or
mv file .file

to navigate to a hidden folder without making it visible again,
use the Go | Go to folder... item in the Finder menu.

 

[podbay]

Thank you Ride, for the code to paste into Terminal. I'm a MacBook newbie, and this is good to know.

 

[cradom]

You can download Tinkertool for free. Two clicks, "show hidden files" and "restart Finder".

 

[Fairly]

Fairly shocked I be. The only followup here that made any sense was the one with the two defaults commands. The rest is pure rubbish. Believe me: from the POV of the poor person initially making this enquiry it's far far better if should you not know what you're talking about you resist the temptation to blurt it out anyway. This thread threatens to make pessimists of us all: mostly well intentioned people who congregate to discuss a common interest - and help each other on occasion - but who to 99% in 99% of all cases to 99% don't have a clue what they're talking about.

 

[Brown Study]

. . . The rest is pure rubbish. . . . but who to 99% in 99% of all cases to 99% don't have a clue what they're talking about.

Projection.

 

[danielb]

From the terminal "ls -a" to see all the files in the directory

 

[cradom]

You know this is a 9 year old thread right?

 

[MacInWin]

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately you posted in a thread that is 9 years old.

 

[cradom]

Interesting, he/she went from Member with 1 post to Guest. Hmmm....