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Dot in front of file

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Dot in front of file

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.

filenames

share|improve this question

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  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
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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.

filenames

share|improve this question

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  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
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

share|improve this question

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

share|improve this question

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

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.

asked 3 hours ago

Regina SaucedoRegina Saucedo

111

1 Answer
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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

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

add a comment | 

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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

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

add a comment | 

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

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

add a comment | 

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

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370

answered 3 hours ago

Jesse_bJesse_b

13.4k23370