How do I actually see a hidden FILE, not a FOLDER for Mac OSX.6.1?

September 22, 2009 11:42 AM

How do I actually see a hidden FILE, not a FOLDER for Mac OSX.6.1?

Okay, I'm dumb, I know how to make a file invisible or hidden...but now I just don't know how to find it! None of the other things people have written worked because they're for older OS. I've tried just about all of it. Is there a super quick and easy way to find hidden FILES, not folders, on Mac OSX.6.1? The newest Mac OS? I have a copy of the file elsewhere, not hidden, because I was testing the capability of this new OS, and I just don't want the thing take up space. It's kind of a tiny file, anyways. Thanks for whomever responds, because I really need this file.

posted by tenkarasu to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

ls -a
posted by GuyZero at 11:45 AM on September 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Launch Terminal, then type the following line and push enter:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

Relaunch Finder and you'll now be able to see all hidden files and folders.

If you want to reverse it, change YES to NO and repeat.
posted by inturnaround at 11:50 AM on September 22, 2009

⌘-Shift-. in file dialogs shows 'em all, too.
posted by Palamedes at 12:06 PM on September 22, 2009

Apple + shift + period will do this in open and save dialogs, but this works in 10.6 ONLY. And, as an added annoyance, it doesn't work in plain vanilla finder windows. Why Steve, why?

There are also some double-clickable apps that do the defaults thing that inturnaround mentions. But since you only need it this once, I'd just follow his advice.
posted by zpousman at 12:24 PM on September 22, 2009

⌘-Shift-. is a great new feature in 10.6!
Before 10.6 I would use an FTP program like Transmit, enable hidden files, and browse around in their app.
posted by avex at 1:58 PM on September 22, 2009

Terminal.app, come ON sheeple!!!

ls -al

/end snarkity-snark
posted by PROD_TPSL at 4:54 PM on September 22, 2009

Yes, yes, Terminal rocks. But, for them what wants to use a GUI:

1. In MacOS 10.6's Finder press ⌘-F to bring up a Find dialog.
2. Click the first dropdown (it defaults to "Kind") and select "Other." (If you don't see a dropdown, click the + next to the Save button to add a file attribute to limit your search by)
3. From the huge list of options, locate "File invisible" and click the checkbox to add it to the menu.

Henceforth, you can easily limit all Finder searches by visible / invisible / both.

I'm looking at you, .htaccess
posted by mumkin at 9:03 PM on September 22, 2009