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Mac OS

Edit hidden files with TextEdit​

Hidden files on OS X are denoted with a “.” (e.g. .profile, .bash_profile). In these examples, the “~” character indicates the user’s home directory. You can open and edit these files using the TextEdit application.

Open .profile

  • Command: open ~/.profile
  • Command to open with specific application: open -a TextEdit ~/.profile

Open .bash_profile

  • Command: open ~/.bash_profile
  • Command to open with specific application: open -a TextEdit ~/.bash_profile

Hide/Show Hidden files​

From a directory in Finder, press CMD + SHIFT + . to toggle the display of hidden files