Eliminating hidden characters

Question

Level 2

340 points

Eliminating hidden characters

Greetings

I recently copied some files to a shared folder on a remote server. After I did, I realized that for each file I copied two had been created: one named <filename.ppt> and one named <._filename.ppt>. The remote box isn't Mac (I suspect it's Windows) and the files are visible on it - but not on my Mac.

The files are posted on a website. I want to be able to see and manage them without having to resort to terminal for all my posting. What's the method for seeing and controlling ' ._ ' files, including the famous ' . DSStore ' ? I'm sure I've seen a method posted before, but I can't remember what it was.

Thanks

Greg

Posted on Nov 4, 2005 3:29 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,863 points

Nov 4, 2005 9:52 PM in response to Greg Baker1

You can view normally invisible files and folders in the Finder by opening the Script Editor and pasting the following in:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles '1'"
tell application "Finder"
quit
end tell
delay 3
tell application "Finder"
run
end tell

After running the script, the ._ files will then appear in the Finder. To turn this setting off, replace the 1 with a 0 and rerun the script.

(9391)

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Answer 2

Greg Baker1 Author

Level 2

340 points

Nov 5, 2005 2:18 PM in response to Niel

Hello Niel

Thanks for the help. I followed the procedure and the script had an effect, but with two problems:

1. After the script had run, the icons of objects within folders - under 'Applications' 'Documents' and mounted - all became very pale and indistinct. I'd like to use this setting as my default but I wouldn't want to do so if all my icons will be affected like that.

2. It didn't actually solve the problem I had in mind. The files that had appeared on our website - the ones that had the ' ._filename ' filenames, were still invisible to me when I viewed the folder in Finder - even though they're quite visible on the site.

There are other solutions to this problem - I'm going to just modify the php code in the page to make them invisible - but I'd like to be able to see and manage these files within finder, if I can.

Any suggestions?

Regards & thanks

Greg

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Answer 3

Nov 5, 2005 4:12 PM in response to Greg Baker1

Greg--

Those "._filename" files are the resource forks of your files. It sounds from your description like you might have mounted the drive on your Mac and copied the folder over that way. The Mac will copy both parts of the file over and Windows creates a new file for the resource fork and puts the "._" on the front.

When you look at the files in the shared folder on your Mac, the Finder knows not to display those parts of the files. But the Windows web server doesn't know any better and will show them as two separate files.

As you've seen, you'll probably have to deal with them in the PHP code, as they're part of the directory listing according to Windows.

best,

charlie

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Answer 4

Greg Baker1 Author

Level 2

340 points

Nov 6, 2005 2:47 PM in response to Charles Minow

Thanks for the info, Charlie! ++

You're quite right abnout how I posted the files. Is there any method someone can share for working with mounted Windows drives without the resource forks being copied over?

Also, does this mean I'd have the same problem if I did my file management from Terminal?

Thanks again

G

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Answer 5

Nov 6, 2005 8:23 PM in response to Greg Baker1

Is there any method someone can share for working with mounted Windows drives without the resource forks being copied over?

I'm not sure, since you're using Tiger. The usual methods, using cp, mv, etc., probably won't work with Tiger because they're now aware of the dual forks and preserve them. You could try using ftp to copy to the Windows server. That, I think, would not copy the resource fork.

charlie

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