Hide files in Linux without using the dot

I wish to hide files in Linux without using the dot, since it's possible in Windows.

Is there a way to do this?

Solution 1:

Create a file .hidden in the directory with the names of the files to be hidden (one name each line).

Then add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

ls () {
  if [ -f .hidden ]; then
    declare GLOBIGNORE="$GLOBIGNORE:.*:$(tr '\n' ':' < .hidden)"
    ls "$@"
  fi
}

Now your ls command does not list these files.

I use this technique to hide my __pycache__ and __init__.py files.

EDIT: as per an other comment this also hides them in at least one (Nautilus), but probably several GUI file browsers as well.

Solution 2:

You cannot. There is a fundamental difference in the way the file systems handle hidden settings. In Windows, the file system stores several attributes for the file in metadata, including the attributes "hidden" and "system" (both of which are kinds of hidden files). In common *nix filesystems, no such attribute is stored. Instead, the information must be put somewhere else, such as in the file name. The convention is thus that files beginning with . (and depending on your system, maybe some others like _) will not be shown by most tools by default.

This is purely for convenience, a . beginning a file name means absolutely nothing but "the user probably doesn't want to see this all the time." To make sure that you know, running e.g. ls -a will show all files.

If you don't want to have a file clutter up your listings in Linux, you should rename it to start with a dot (Bonus: this will work for OS X too, if we're talking about a portable device). If you don't want users to be able to find a file, you're doing it wrong - that's what permissions are for.

Unix permissions as they pertain to directories often confuse people, and maybe understanding it better will help you. The "read" and "execute" permissions (r and x) mean something different for directories than they do for files. For directories, the execute x permission determines whether or not you access the inodes in the directory. The read r permission dictates whether or not you can access the listing of the directory. Functionally, x allows the user to do things in a directory, while the r permission allows them to see what's in it. These are different, and the difference can be confusing. Let's look at an example:

jeanluc@login64: ~ $ mkdir example
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ echo "you can read it" > example/file
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ ls example/
file
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ cat example/file
you can read it

jeanluc@login64: ~ $ chmod -x example/
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ ls example/
ls: cannot access example/file: Permission denied
file
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ cat example/file
cat: example/file: Permission denied
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ cd example/
-bash: cd: example/: Permission denied

jeanluc@login64: ~ $ chmod +x example/
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ chmod -r example/
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ ls example/
ls: cannot open directory example/: Permission denied
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ cat example/file
you can read it
jeanluc@login64: ~ $ cd example/
jeanluc@login64: ~/example $ ls
ls: cannot open directory .: Permission denied
jeanluc@login64: ~/example $ cd ..

So, notice that without execute I can still list the files (although ls shows an error because it cannot get the file properties), but I can't change in to the directory or read the files in it. Without read I cannot list the files, but I can still change in to the directory and if I know the name of a file I can still access it.

Do note, though, that removing the read permission only gives you security by obscurity. If the user guesses the file name, they will be able to read its contents.

This may not have really been relevant to your question, I just wanted to make sure you understood directory permissions.

Solution 3:

You can actually hide files in Linux without adding a dot. This actually hides them in Nautilus; an ls from the command line will still list the files.

1. Create a text file named .hidden in the folder where you want to hide the files.
2. Add the names of the files or folders you want to hide, one per line, to the file.
3. Refresh your file browser.