How to hide or unhide files and folders in Linux

Linux considers a file or folder hidden if the name starts with a dot (.). By default, file managers such as GNOME Files or Dolphin will not show hidden files and folders. It is also the case when using command-line tools such as ls.

You can rename a file or folder and prepend a . to its name to hide, and remove the leading . to unhide. It is different from Windows as files and folders are visible or hidden based on file/folder attributes rather than the name.

You can rename a file or folder to hide and unhide them using graphical files managers or by using mv command at the terminal.

Steps to hide and unhide files and folders in Linux:

Launch terminal
List files and folders in a folder using ls.
```
$ ls temp/
file  folder
```
Rename an existing file by prepending . to its name using mv to hide a file.
```
$ mv temp/file temp/.file
```
Run ls to list files and folders in the previous folder.
```
$ ls temp/
folder
```
Rename the hidden file by removing the leading . using mv to unhide the file.
```
$ mv temp/.file temp/file
```
Run ls again to list the files and folders in the folder.
```
$ ls temp/
file  folder
```

Author: Mohd Shakir Zakaria
Cloud architect by profession but always consider himself as a developer, entrepreneur and an opensource enthusiast.

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