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In the finder, files that begin with a . (dot) are not being shown for me.

How can I configure the finder to reveal all files, including ones that begin with a dot?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Open your Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) then enter,

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

Then restart Finder by holding down Option and Control, or right-clicking on the Finder's icon in your Dock and choosing "Relaunch".

To revert this behavior, simply change the YES to NO in that defaults command.

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    Unfortunately this does not change the behaviour of finder in an Open File window, for example. But see abh's shortcut below
    – DrGC
    Jun 4, 2017 at 15:38
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A handy keyboard shortcut to reveal files that begin with a . (dot) in Finder is:

Shift + Command + .

This toggles . (dot) files to show/ hide without needing to restart Finder.

You can also define an alias to quickly toggle hidden files within Finder:

alias AllFilesTRUE='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder'
alias AllFilesFALSE='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder'
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  • 3
    The keyboard shortcut is a great tip! I wish I could do that directly in Finder (not just in an "Open" window).
    – Samuel Bradshaw
    Aug 26, 2016 at 23:21
  • This is better.
    – xi.lin
    Nov 30, 2018 at 8:29
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    I prefer this since I often don't want to see the dot files
    – Ruan Mendes
    Apr 16, 2020 at 12:32
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    This should be the accepted answer! It works in the finder too.
    – hasen
    Mar 24, 2021 at 10:25
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    This also works in the System Information app, in the File Browser
    – dldnh
    Aug 31, 2021 at 20:46

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