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View hidden files and folders in Finder.

By A.T. » Posted on December 3, 2004 - 11:04am
As you know, the Finder hides the standard Unix files and folders from you. You can "Go To Folder..." and type in the name of the folder such as /var/log, but that's fiddly and you still don't see the "dot" files, so for any serious session, it's probably easier to drop into Terminal. Except, there's a terminal command that will make all files and folders display in your Finder. defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true et voila
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yeah thats cool ive done what i wanted...
Crupi on February 27, 2005 - 5:09am
but now my finder is always messy NO MATTER WHERE I GO!!!(im mac-anal you see) so how do i undo this
To hide the files again type
benjamindaines on March 22, 2005 - 4:08pm
To hide the files again type the exact same thing but change true to fasle hit return and relaunch Finder in Force Quit.
Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
basketballguy on March 21, 2007 - 9:38pm

how do I get into terminal?

will this allow me to delete files I don’t want found on my computer? If so, how do I know which files I need to remove?

I’m not very computer savvy, but need to cleanse my computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
Ernest Mandel (not verified) on August 22, 2007 - 1:53am

“will this allow me to delete files I don’t want found on my computer? If so, how do I know which files I need to remove?

I’m not very computer savvy, but need to cleanse my computer.”

Well, a basic notion of unix systems would be a start. Else I would advise you not to touch the hidden files (especiallly those outside your of home folder).
In your case I would advise a backup of your applications and do a fresh install. If the files you want to get rid off are realy sensitive use a program that overwrites your disk several times before you format.

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
randaL (not verified) on February 10, 2008 - 1:18pm

…gotta love the “defaults write” – wish that Apple would clue in and provide these obscure settings in a more straight-forward manner (ie. within the control panel). I suppose that they’re just trying to protect their reputation by protecting their non-technical userbase from breaking their installations. Of course, these are the same people who wouldn’t go diving for Terminal.app (&&fear the command line) so perhaps there is wisdom here…

Since sources like this are readily available/googleable my heartburn is minimal. Thanks for the tip – I had forgotten it! Long live tribal knowledge…

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
Anonymous (not verified) on February 24, 2008 - 10:43pm

Does this work on Leopard? I just tried it and though I didn’t get an error at the standard output I still can’t see hidden files in finder.

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
AxMxAxR (not verified) on April 11, 2008 - 3:19pm

Yes it works in Leopard. I just put the show and hide commands provided by AT in two shell scripts, you can find them here:

http://www.4shared.com/dir/6513499/afc2a365/Mac.html

You need to open them with Terminal.

The important part is the Force Quit and Relaunch Finder. The changes will not reflect without that.

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
Anonymous (not verified) on April 14, 2008 - 2:43am

Sticking out tongue

http://gratiz.startze.nl

Re: View hidden files and folders in Finder.
Ton Keuken (not verified) on April 22, 2008 - 2:38am

Thanks for the Leopard suggestion, works great.

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