no hidden file?

Discussion in 'macOS' started by Jiggy1965, Dec 10, 2008.

Most Liked Posts
  1. Jiggy1965, Dec 10, 2008

    Jiggy1965 macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2008
    #1
    I've dragged an email attachment to my desktop. Its name began with a dot so Mac sees it as a 'hidden file' and the icon can't be seen on the desktop. So I did a search with the 'kind' option set to 'visibility: invisible'. But it doesn't show any hidden files. No file that starts with a dot.
    Terminal does show it when I use ls -a.

    So why doesn't it show when I do a 'hidden file' search?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  2. ppc750fx, Dec 10, 2008

    ppc750fx macrumors 65816

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2008
    #2
    Ah... and just like that we run into one of the few fun remaining hold-overs from the classic era...

    There are actually two ways to hide a file in OS X. The first is the (more-or-less) standard *nix way, by starting the file name with a ".".

    The second is the way that Mac OS used to do it, by setting a special flag in the file's metadata, specifically the invisible bit. Mac OS X supports this (and still uses it, at least to some extent). This is what your search query was including.
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  3. Moof1904, Dec 10, 2008

    Moof1904 macrumors 65816

    Joined:
    May 20, 2004
    #3
    share
    + Quote Reply
  4. mnkeybsness, Dec 10, 2008

    mnkeybsness macrumors 68030

    mnkeybsness

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2001
    Location:
    Moneyapolis, Minnesota
    #4
    Open terminal application and type the following:

    Code:
    cd ~/Desktop
ls -lA
    You will now see a verbose list of all items on your desktop. Locate the file you want that starts with a . For this purpose, I'll dub it ".yourfile". Back in Terminal:

    Code:
    mv .yourfile newfilename
    your file will now be titled "newfilename" and appear on the desktop
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  5. Jiggy1965, Dec 14, 2008

    Jiggy1965 thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2008
    #5
    I've located it by doing it the terminal way and removed the dot so it became visible again.

    But I'm still curious why a ctrl-F search didn't find the file. I've set 'search' to look voor invisible files by setting the 'Kind' options. And the file is appearently made hidden by placing a dot in front of the file name. So the specific search query should find it? Or should I set the ctrl-F search to something else to search for hidden 'dot-files'?
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
  6. jmxp69, Dec 14, 2008

    jmxp69 macrumors 6502

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2008
    #6
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
    killall Finder

    Restore to default:
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
    killall Finder

    That will show your files. I don't know why ctrl-f doesn't see them. Doesn't see them on mine with AllFiles enabled either.

    J
     
    share
    + Quote Reply
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page