At this point in my development career, I pretty much always leave hidden files showing. The extra system ones that I come across from time to time just don’t bother me anymore. Problem is, sometimes I need to show files on a new computer – mine or someone else’s that I happen to be working on.
For that reason, I’m pasting this here for my future self to look back on for reference.
In the “Terminal” app – or any other command line utility – paste in the following lines of text:
# Always show hidden files
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
# Reset Finder for the settings to take effect
killall DockSide note: that last one can also be accomplished through relaunching Finder through the Mac OS user interface, but this is just easier to do in one fell swoop.
A Couple of Apps to Show Hidden Files
As a bonus, here are a couple of apps that will do this without the command line.
