Hidden Modes

The Unix convention is that files that start with a period are hidden. For instance, the ls command by default avoids listing out files such as .xinitrc or directories such as .ssh.

Tactile Interrogator follows this convention also. You can toggle Hidden Mode off and on by keystroke. You can also double click on the special Hidden icon to see the hidden files, or double click on the dot file's icon to turn on Hidden mode again.

  X11 MacOS
toggle Hidden Mode altE ^E

four Hidden modes

MacOS and MS Windows have a different convention for keeping files out of sight - they use a proprietary attribute bit that marks the file. On MacOS, this is called the Invisible bit and often goes by the letter V. On MS Windows, this is called the Hidden bit and is often abbreviated H. To avoid confusion, Interrogator always uses this convention:
Hidden name starts with a period
Invisible attribute bit

To maximize your control, Interrogator also has an Invisible mode, that will hide files with the Invisible attribute bit set. All four combinations of Hidden and Invisible are available, as shown at left.

Whenever files are not shown under any of these schemes, a Hidden icon shows up in the upper left corner to remind you that you aren't seeing everything. The wording of the legend tells you which mode you are in. See the examples at left.

You can change these modes with the following keystrokes:

  X11 MacOS
show All Files altA altE ^A ^E
show Hidden toggle altH altE ^H ^E
show Invisible toggle altV altE ^V ^E


Even More Hiding

If you are working in a directory with a lot of files, such as /usr/lib, and you want to concentrate on just a few of the files, you can try sorting by file name or some other characteristic that the files have in common. In some cases, that doesn't work well.

You can tell Interrogator to simply hide files that are not selected, or specifically, not appropriated. Usually, the appropriated files are the same as the selected files. For instance, when you enter a Touch Target pattern, all the files that match are selected, and appropriated. But, as you Tab around, the selection jumps from one file to another, while the appropriation stays the same.

  X11 MacOS
hide Unappropriated files toggle altU altE ^U ^E

Documentation > Directory Window > Hidden Modes        

                     

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