macos

Show/Hide Hidden Files using Terminal Aliases

A Terminal alias is a name or shortcut for one or multiple commands. Using an easy to remember alias, we can turn the above four step process into just one.

An alias can be made temporarily (just for the use of one terminal session) or permanently. As we want this to be a shortcut used now and in the future, let’s make it permanent:

1. Open Terminal found in Finder > Applications > Utilities

2. In Terminal, paste the following: sudo nano ~/.bash_profile

3. Enter your Mac’s administration password if required, then hit return

4. At the bottom of the open .bash_profile file, paste the following: alias showFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app'

5. Below that, paste the following: alias hideFiles='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app'

6. Press ctrl + O and hit return to save the file

7. Press ctrl + X to exit the file and return to the command line

8. In Terminal, paste the following: source ~/.bash_profile to refresh your profile and make the aliases available