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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Hide an Alias with the Terminal

Hide an Alias with the Terminal
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REVBCO
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Jul 30, 2008, 12:46 PM
 
How do I hide an alias in the terminal? I just reinstalled my the OS and there are some unix folders that are showing up under the Macintosh HD. I figured out how to hide the normal folders but the trick wont work with the alias folders.

Thanks for you help
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REVBCO  (op)
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Jul 30, 2008, 01:02 PM
 
Here is a link on what I am trying to do.
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Atheist
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Back in the Good Ole US of A
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Jul 30, 2008, 01:13 PM
 
I found the following here:


Reasons for invisibility

In Mac OS X, there are three different ways a file or directory can be made invisible in the finder: it can have the "invisible" attribute set (as in older Mac OS systems), its name can start with "." (as in other unix systems), or its name can be listed in the /.hidden file. Many of the files and directories listed above are actually invisible for multiple reasons (e.g. /bin is listed in /.hidden, as well as having its invisible attribute set).

Note that OS X only respects the .hidden file on its boot volume, so if you boot from another disk, several normally-hidden files will suddenly be visible. Also, since Mac OS 9 (and older versions) only recognize the invisible flag, even more of these files (mainly /.vol, /mach, /mach.sym, and sometimes .DS_Store) will be visible when you boot into Mac OS 9.
     
Simon
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Jul 30, 2008, 02:50 PM
 
To make something invisible:
setFile -a V ~/foo

To make something visible:
setFile -a v ~/foo
     
REVBCO  (op)
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Jul 30, 2008, 04:16 PM
 
what is " ~/foo"?
Is it the path to the file?
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Big Mac
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Jul 30, 2008, 04:29 PM
 
Ya. ~ is a shortcut reference to one's home folder.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
Simon
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Jul 31, 2008, 02:37 AM
 
~/foo was just an example. You can use the setFile command on files or folders.
     
   
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