All Mac systems contain hidden files and folders. These are often preceded by a full stop or a slash, and are kept out of sight of the user either to prevent them from being deleted because they. The good news is that this is an easy task on Mac OS. What are Environment Variables? Environment variables are global system variables accessible by all the processes/users running under the Operating System (OS), such as Windows, macOS and Linux. Environment variables are useful to store system-wide values, for examples. This article was written by Chiara Corsaro.Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).
Invisible Path (datt4300group_rxyjh) Mac Os -
Updates
Added shortcut method available on macOS Sierra keyboard.
Method of showing/hiding hidden files tested and working on macOS Sierra.
Method of showing/hiding hidden files tested and working on Mac OS X El Capitan.
It seems like every day I search Google for the command to show hidden files on Mac OS X, not to mention Googling for the command to then hide those hidden files a few minutes later.
Today I decided to make a short and easy to remember alias to speed up the process. All I need do now is type showFiles and hideFiles whenever I need to show/hide OS X's hidden files. Here's how you can do it too.
The Quickest Way to Show/Hide Hidden Files
Since the release of macOS Sierra, when in Finder, it is now possible to use the shortcut:
Press once to show hidden files and again to hide them. If you're using a version earlier than macOS Sierra, see Show/Hide Hidden Files using Terminal Aliases to setup a toggle command via terminal.
Thanks to Guido Schlabitz for making me aware of this new shortcut.
Show/Hide Hidden Files the Long Way
The long way to show hidden Mac OS X files is as follows:
- Open Terminal found in Finder > Applications > Utilities
- In Terminal, paste the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES - Press return
- Hold the 'Option/alt' key, then right click on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch.
This will show all hidden files. To hide them again, follow the same steps but replace the Terminal command with:
It's not the longest set of instructions or the biggest command to commit to memory but if you're doing this a lot, it's worth spending a few minutes now to save yourself a lot more time in the future.
Show/Hide Hidden Files using Terminal Aliases
A Terminal alias is a name or shortcut for one or multiple commands. Using an easy to remember alias, we can turn the above four step process into just one.
An alias can be made temporarily (just for the use of one terminal session) or permanently. As we want this to be a shortcut used now and in the future, let's make it permanent:
- Open Terminal found in Finder > Applications > Utilities
- In Terminal, paste the following:
sudo nano ~/.bash_profile - Enter your Mac's administration password if required, then hit return
- At the bottom of the open .bash_profile file, paste the following:
alias showFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' Below that, paste the following:
alias hideFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app'- Press ctrl + O and hit return to save the file
- Press ctrl + X to exit the file and return to the command line
- In Terminal, paste the following:
source ~/.bash_profileto refresh your profile and make the aliases available
Now when you want to show hidden files, all you need type in Terminal is showFiles, then hideFiles when you want to hide them.
If you want to modify the behaviour or alias names, let's take a closer look at the commands you just added:
alias tells Terminal we're adding a new alias.
showFiles is the name of the alias. Change this to what you wish.
We then give the alias two commands. The first being:
This is the command to show hidden files and is ended with a semi-colon ; so we can then use the second command:
This will relaunch the Finder (to replicate the step of holding the 'Option/alt' key then right clicking the Finder icon in the dock).
Conclusion
With the aliases set up, all you need do in the future is type showFiles and hideFiles to show and hide Mac OS X's hidden files respectively.
Aliases can be used to speed up your interaction with the Terminal. Set up an alias for navigating to your most used directories, to commit to a GitHub repo and so on.
Ian Lunn is a Front-end Developer with 12 years commercial experience, author of CSS3 Foundations, and graduate of Internet Technology. He creates successful websites that are fast, easy to use, and built with best practices.
There are plenty of good reasons you might want to hide some of your files or folders. Maybe you carry around a laptop and you just want to be extra safe. Maybe you share an account with others and need to keep some things private. Whatever the reason, here are eight ways to do it in OS X.
1: Enable FileVault
This is probably the simplest way to do it. Go to System Preferences' Security & Privacy pane and turn on FileVault. That will encrypt your entire hard drive, so someone would need your password to get at its contents.
2: Hide them in the Library
Assuming your /Library folder is hidden (that's the default in OS X Mountain Lion), hold down the Option key as you open the Finder's Go menu. Navigate to that Library folder, then create a new folder there or just drag the files or folders you want to hide into it.
Invisible Path (datt4300group_rxyjh) Mac Os Login
Aliases can be used to speed up your interaction with the Terminal. Set up an alias for navigating to your most used directories, to commit to a GitHub repo and so on.
Ian Lunn is a Front-end Developer with 12 years commercial experience, author of CSS3 Foundations, and graduate of Internet Technology. He creates successful websites that are fast, easy to use, and built with best practices.
There are plenty of good reasons you might want to hide some of your files or folders. Maybe you carry around a laptop and you just want to be extra safe. Maybe you share an account with others and need to keep some things private. Whatever the reason, here are eight ways to do it in OS X.
1: Enable FileVault
This is probably the simplest way to do it. Go to System Preferences' Security & Privacy pane and turn on FileVault. That will encrypt your entire hard drive, so someone would need your password to get at its contents.
2: Hide them in the Library
Assuming your /Library folder is hidden (that's the default in OS X Mountain Lion), hold down the Option key as you open the Finder's Go menu. Navigate to that Library folder, then create a new folder there or just drag the files or folders you want to hide into it.
Invisible Path (datt4300group_rxyjh) Mac Os Login
3: Put them in another user account
Create a new user in System Preferences' Users & Groups preference pane, then put the files and folders you want to hide in that account.
4: Make the file/folder hidden 1
In Terminal, type chflags hidden and then drag a folder or file you want to hide into the Terminal window; you can still access those hidden folders and files by summoning the Go To Folder dialog (Command-Shift-G) and typing in their full paths. To unhide them, go back to Terminal and type chflags nohidden followed by the file or folder path.
5: Make the file/folder hidden 2
Again in Terminal, type mv filename .filename. This moves the original folder to one with a period at the beginning of its name; by default, folders with periods at the beginning of their names are hidden in OS X. You can also type mkdir .hiddenfolder to create a new hidden folder. In either case, you can again access the hidden folder using the Go To Folder option.
6: Hide in plain sight
Use innocent-sounding filenames such as Cat videos January 2013— LOL! instead of something more intriguing (Top secret).
7: Set visibility attribute to invisible
If you have Apple's Developer Tools installed, go to Terminal and enter setfile -a V followed by the name of the file or folder. That sets its visibility attribute to invisible; you can undo this by repeating the command with a lower-case v.
8: Use a third-party solution
Try Apimac's Secret Folder or Altomac's Hide Folders.
So that's it: Eight different ways to hide files or folders in OS X. Thanks to writer Steve McCabe for the tips. You'll find those and more in the story '100 More Things Every Mac User Should Know' in the April issue of Macworld.
