The Fairy Godmother poofing into existence a filing cabinet labelled "DOT". AI-generated.

"Dotfiles" (also known as "hidden files") are files with names beginning in a dot/period (".") and will not be visible by default. The way to make dot files visible depends on your operating system:

Windows 11

In the File Exporer, click on "View", then find and click "Show", and then "Hidden items".

Windows 10

In the File Exporer:

  • Click on "View", then "Options"
  • If displayed, click on "Change folder and search options", otherwise continue
  • In the window that opens, click the "View" tab
  • Find the radio button labelled "Show hidden files, folders, and drives", and click it

Mac

While in Finder, press "⌘Command + Shift + dot/period".

When using ls

Dotfiles will also not appear in the results of the ls command. To get them to appear:

  • In Mac or Linux terminals, add the -a option.
  • In Windows PowerShell, add the -Force option. (This also works with Get-ChildItem, e.g. Get-ChildItem -Force)

Why are dot files hidden?

Dotfiles being hidden was originally a bug in a version of Unix. Future Unix versions deliberately kept this behavior to retain program compatibility, and developers of other operating systems chose to do so as well to abide by what had come to be expected functionality.