Design Rails

When I first started delving into the world of web development I was stumped with the seemingly simplest of things - finding hidden files on my PowerBook (yes, I know it's old) running OSX Tiger. This hit me hard when, for example, I had to find a configuration file or directory in the deepest darkest region of my system. However, like anyone with at least one eighth of a brain, I consulted my friend Mr Google.

Answers? yes, I uncovered two approaches to uncovering and viewing your hidden files. Though today I only use one approach and that is the first that I am about to show you.

But before we look at the 'how', let's define the 'what'. What are invisible or hidden files and directories? Simply, they start with a full stop, or for those in America – a period. Here is an example:

Note: all lines starting with '#' are commented out. Don't type this line.

# Hidden file
.hidden

# Non-hidden file
hidden

Approach One: The command line

OK, If you are not familiar with the Terminal application on OSX, please don't be afraid. You won't break anything (I hope!). Open your Terminal application. This is usually located in the Applications/Utilities directory on your Mac.

So go ahead and open a new window in Terminal (or new shell!). Now let's enter the following commands:

# List the files and folders in current directory
# Lower case L and S
ls

## Now list all files and directories
ls -la

See the difference?

Approach Two: Get someone else to do the dirty work

If you don't want to get your hands dirty with the command line in Terminal there is an alternative. It's call MainMenu. Go ahead, download the application to your desktop and install.

Once you install MainMenu, just go to finder > show invisibles. That's it!