Show directories such as /usr/bin in Finder

bob35,

to show hidden files go into (Terminal) and type:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

and then:

killall Finder

To reverse change "TRUE" to "FALSE" *****NOTE****** These files are hidden for a reason so be careful when changing or deleting things, you can cause your system to have a hole bunch of headaches. Also Note: you have to type things in Terminal exactly how they are Case and everything.

Hope this helps with your issue.

If you don't want to use the hack to make them visible, then simply do this:

In the Finder Go menu, top left on your desktop, select Go to Folder
and enter
/usr/bin
and there you are.

Since I don't want to see all files all the time, I took a somewhat different approach:

1. Created a folder in my home folder called "hidden"
2. Used the "Go to Folder..." option in the Go menu to navigate to hidden folders I want to open occasionally
3. With the hidden folder open, I made an alias of it and placed the alias in my "hidden" folder

Whenever I run across an occasion where I want access to some other normally hidden folder I add it to my collection of aliases. This works for things that are inside of bundles too. Here's my current collection:

bin
CoreTypesIcons (the Resources folder inside the CoreTypes.bundle)
FinderResources (the Resources folder for the Finder)
private
sbin
usr
YouTubeTemps (the TemporaryItems folder where YouTube streams the flvs)

The easy way to create the aliases is to hold the Command-Option keys down, click and hold on the proxy icon in the title bar of the open window (may take half a second for the proxy icon to turn dark, indicating it is selected) and drag it to the Desktop.
Francine


Francine
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