Dot in front of file2019 Community Moderator ElectionFilename dot in frontWhy are filenames that start with a...

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Dot in front of file



2019 Community Moderator ElectionFilename dot in frontWhy are filenames that start with a dot hidden? Can I hide files without using a dot as their first character?How to rename file to .. (dot dot)?How to colourise hidden files in `ls` file listings?Sort files according to their extensionsUsing File Date/Time as Metadata: Reliable?How do I remove all but the file name (with no extension) from a full file path?Am I correct in my understanding of how symlinks and `..` interact under POSIXTwo dots (..) or two dashes (--) as a delimiter in the names of files and directoriesshell script to walk folders and sub-folders, convert timestamp to UTC format and export .csv fileFilename dot in front












2















If there is a file and the filename starts with a dot in front of it does th ast mean that you created the file and you are hiding stuff in it or can the files get created on their own without you creating the filename. I'm just saying I have files with dots in front of them but I didnt create them can anyone answer please and thank you.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

    – kemotep
    3 hours ago











  • I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

    – Regina Saucedo
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

    – Stephen Kitt
    3 hours ago











  • Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

    – Micha
    2 hours ago
















2















If there is a file and the filename starts with a dot in front of it does th ast mean that you created the file and you are hiding stuff in it or can the files get created on their own without you creating the filename. I'm just saying I have files with dots in front of them but I didnt create them can anyone answer please and thank you.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

    – kemotep
    3 hours ago











  • I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

    – Regina Saucedo
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

    – Stephen Kitt
    3 hours ago











  • Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

    – Micha
    2 hours ago














2












2








2








If there is a file and the filename starts with a dot in front of it does th ast mean that you created the file and you are hiding stuff in it or can the files get created on their own without you creating the filename. I'm just saying I have files with dots in front of them but I didnt create them can anyone answer please and thank you.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












If there is a file and the filename starts with a dot in front of it does th ast mean that you created the file and you are hiding stuff in it or can the files get created on their own without you creating the filename. I'm just saying I have files with dots in front of them but I didnt create them can anyone answer please and thank you.







filenames






share|improve this question







New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question







New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question






New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 3 hours ago









Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

111




111




New contributor




Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Regina Saucedo is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

    – kemotep
    3 hours ago











  • I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

    – Regina Saucedo
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

    – Stephen Kitt
    3 hours ago











  • Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

    – Micha
    2 hours ago



















  • Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

    – kemotep
    3 hours ago











  • I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

    – Regina Saucedo
    3 hours ago






  • 2





    Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

    – Stephen Kitt
    3 hours ago











  • Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

    – Micha
    2 hours ago

















Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

– kemotep
3 hours ago





Hello and welcome to the U&L stack exchange site! Please read over the help center to get more information on how to best post to this site. To get to your question, dotfiles or files starting with a dot character are hidden files. They can used for configuration files for applications you have installed or as profiles for your user settings. What files are you having an issue with? Please edit your post to include more context. Thank you!

– kemotep
3 hours ago













I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

– Regina Saucedo
3 hours ago





I'm not having a problem with mybfilea never looked at my files I'm getting accused of hiding things in files and also that I have hidden apps and I've never downloaded hidden apps

– Regina Saucedo
3 hours ago




2




2





Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

– Stephen Kitt
3 hours ago





Possible duplicate of Filename dot in front

– Stephen Kitt
3 hours ago













Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

– Micha
2 hours ago





Don't worry and don't let people accuse you of doing covert operations on your file system. Everyone can type in ls -alF in a command shell, and all hiding goes away. BTW you might want to use alias l='ls --color=tty -alF' and with it just type one single l to see it all. Try echo 'set nu' > .vimrc and voila, you've line numbers in your vi or vim editor. That's all there is to it with "hidden" files.

– Micha
2 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















4














This can likely be explained by a google post by Rob Pike about the origin of hidden files.



In the early days of Unix there was no concept of hidden files but the files . and .. existed to represent the current directory and parent directory. It became annoying to list these files every time ls was used so a simple change was made to the ls program to hide any file beginning with a .. This change, had the unplanned effect of allowing for "hidden files".



As Rob Pike explains:




As a consequence, more lazy programmers started dropping files into everyone's home directory. I don't have all that much stuff installed on the machine I'm using to type this, but my home directory has about a hundred dot files and I don't even know what most of them are or whether they're still needed. Every file name evaluation that goes through my home directory is slowed down by this accumulated sludge.






So to answer your question those hidden files you didn't create are likely some sort of config files from applications you have installed.






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    1 Answer
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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    4














    This can likely be explained by a google post by Rob Pike about the origin of hidden files.



    In the early days of Unix there was no concept of hidden files but the files . and .. existed to represent the current directory and parent directory. It became annoying to list these files every time ls was used so a simple change was made to the ls program to hide any file beginning with a .. This change, had the unplanned effect of allowing for "hidden files".



    As Rob Pike explains:




    As a consequence, more lazy programmers started dropping files into everyone's home directory. I don't have all that much stuff installed on the machine I'm using to type this, but my home directory has about a hundred dot files and I don't even know what most of them are or whether they're still needed. Every file name evaluation that goes through my home directory is slowed down by this accumulated sludge.






    So to answer your question those hidden files you didn't create are likely some sort of config files from applications you have installed.






    share|improve this answer




























      4














      This can likely be explained by a google post by Rob Pike about the origin of hidden files.



      In the early days of Unix there was no concept of hidden files but the files . and .. existed to represent the current directory and parent directory. It became annoying to list these files every time ls was used so a simple change was made to the ls program to hide any file beginning with a .. This change, had the unplanned effect of allowing for "hidden files".



      As Rob Pike explains:




      As a consequence, more lazy programmers started dropping files into everyone's home directory. I don't have all that much stuff installed on the machine I'm using to type this, but my home directory has about a hundred dot files and I don't even know what most of them are or whether they're still needed. Every file name evaluation that goes through my home directory is slowed down by this accumulated sludge.






      So to answer your question those hidden files you didn't create are likely some sort of config files from applications you have installed.






      share|improve this answer


























        4












        4








        4







        This can likely be explained by a google post by Rob Pike about the origin of hidden files.



        In the early days of Unix there was no concept of hidden files but the files . and .. existed to represent the current directory and parent directory. It became annoying to list these files every time ls was used so a simple change was made to the ls program to hide any file beginning with a .. This change, had the unplanned effect of allowing for "hidden files".



        As Rob Pike explains:




        As a consequence, more lazy programmers started dropping files into everyone's home directory. I don't have all that much stuff installed on the machine I'm using to type this, but my home directory has about a hundred dot files and I don't even know what most of them are or whether they're still needed. Every file name evaluation that goes through my home directory is slowed down by this accumulated sludge.






        So to answer your question those hidden files you didn't create are likely some sort of config files from applications you have installed.






        share|improve this answer













        This can likely be explained by a google post by Rob Pike about the origin of hidden files.



        In the early days of Unix there was no concept of hidden files but the files . and .. existed to represent the current directory and parent directory. It became annoying to list these files every time ls was used so a simple change was made to the ls program to hide any file beginning with a .. This change, had the unplanned effect of allowing for "hidden files".



        As Rob Pike explains:




        As a consequence, more lazy programmers started dropping files into everyone's home directory. I don't have all that much stuff installed on the machine I'm using to type this, but my home directory has about a hundred dot files and I don't even know what most of them are or whether they're still needed. Every file name evaluation that goes through my home directory is slowed down by this accumulated sludge.






        So to answer your question those hidden files you didn't create are likely some sort of config files from applications you have installed.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 3 hours ago









        Jesse_bJesse_b

        13.4k23370




        13.4k23370






















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