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Can I enter a path to a file and its name instead of selecting a file in Mac OS X file dialog?

I tried just typing into an open dialog but it will just try to "Go to a folder", it won't accept a full path.

I'm on Mac OS X Lion

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2 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Since it looks like you're just trying to open a hidden file, in the open dialog press command+shift+. and the hidden files will appear.Open dialog

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thank you. but actually, I'm just looking for a way to minimize my mouse usage. and I hate selecting files like that – valya Oct 5 '11 at 21:02
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Once the hidden files are visible, you can type the filename and it will be selected. Alternatively, I suggest a third-party app like LaunchBar. – Graham Oct 5 '11 at 21:03
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Once the hidden files are visible, you should be able to type-to-select. – CajunLuke Oct 5 '11 at 21:04
wow, that worked! any chance to have hidden files shown by default? and maybe a tab-completion on the filepath? – valya Oct 5 '11 at 21:20
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@valya it won't replace the open dialog, but you can use it to send files to Sublime Text. When I want to open a file I hit Cmd-Space to bring up LaunchPad, find the file and hit TAB and then I send it to the program and there it is. It's awesome. – Ian C.♦ Oct 6 '11 at 15:46
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up vote 6 down vote

Yes. When the Finder dialog box is active type ⇧⌘G to bring up the 'Go To Filedirect entry dialog. You can enter the path to the file in the dialog using the Unix-type path expressions you'd expect:~for your home directory,/` for a directory separator, etc.

The Go To File dialog box

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hi. It's 'go to the folder', and it won't work for files (I'm trying on ~/.profile) – valya Oct 5 '11 at 20:32
You can also press "/" or "~" to enter the "Go to the folder:" drop-down, starting the path with "/" or "~" respectively. – joelseph Oct 5 '11 at 21:49
@valya that sucks. I didn't realize it wouldn't let you enter the exact file in the dialog (I don't use it very often myself). Hopefully someone has a better answer. – Ian C.♦ Oct 5 '11 at 22:46
no, sorry, Ian, you actually were right - take a look at comments to the different answer – valya Oct 6 '11 at 0:26

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