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Currently, dolphin automatically hides files and folders beginning with a dot (.), as is the normal rule with Linux. However, it is quite possible that people might want to hide other files as well. For instance there is an extremely old bug for konqueror asking for the ability to hide backup files (files ending in ~).

So in the settings there should be an option to set your own rules for which files are considered "hidden". There should probably be four different types of hidden items you can set. One is "begins with", a file that beings with a certain string (the .files will be included here, if someone really wants to change or remove them). The second is "ends with", a file that ends with a certain string. The third is "mimetype", which means you always hide certain mimetypes. And the fourth is "regular expression".

To avoid the need for another menu item or toolbar button, I think these should be handled the same way .files are now. That, is, if you click "show hidden files" they appear, otherwise they are hidden. They would basically be treated as though they were .files. That should avoid any additional complexity or confusion for end users.

This idea is not mine, it is from an discussion on the bugs.kde.org website.


This is part of my series of Dolphin ideas

I'd like to expand this one. It would be nice with just a right-click on a folder/file and get a "Hide this folder/file". Regular expressions are great tools, but not exactly newbie-friendly.

This (may) be even more useful now-a-days with cross-platform apps where the developer may not be all that familiar with *ix systems (for example, adobe air apps)

5th type: exceptions: Maybe would like to see .mozilla folder if I am creating new firefox theme, but I don't want to see all the other .* files.

TheBlackCat wrote:To avoid the need for another menu item or toolbar button, I think these should be handled the same way .files are now. That, is, if you click "show hidden files" they appear, otherwise they are hidden. They would basically be treated as though they were .files. That should avoid any additional complexity or confusion for end users.

I disagree
Addition button(-s) suppose to be OPTIONAL and rules arranged as "profiles".
Example:

"Regular view"
1) hide .*
2) hide *~
3) hide oldStuff - i don't need my old stuff

"Show hidden files"
1) show everything

"Development mode"
1) show .mozill*
2) hide .*
3) hide *~
4) hide oldStuff

"Fixing mode"
1) show .kde*
2) hide .*
3) hide *~
4) hide oldStuff

And millions of millions of other modes

Additional modes could be organized as submeniu of "show hidden files" menu.

That might make sense for konqueror, I think it is too complicated for dolphin. I think things should be kept relatively simple.

These wishlist issues on Bugzilla look related:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64740
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3212

Angel Blue01 wrote:These wishlist issues on Bugzilla look related:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64740
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3212

The first one has the same effect, but a totally different implementation. It also only appears to apply on a per-folder basis, while my idea is a global setting. The second arrived at this as a possible solution, but the actual goal of the wish is substantially different.

A global setting, like your idea, is better than folder-by-folder feature. :thumbs_up:

plus one for a global setting, like a check-box in the preferences to say just : "consider backup file (*~) as Hidden"

I don't know about this. As it is really hard question.

Should we brake Unix compability because this?

Adding a new prefix or suffix to filename to get it hided is just re-inventing a wheel.

Who really wants to remove backup files from directories? I would argue it is better to see that there is backup of document.odt named document.odt~ what I can open and check, than I need to click "show hided files" to see that.

To open a hided config directory (like .mozilla) without seeing other hided directories, I would create a symlink to that, what I could call what ever I want, like "mozilla themes".

If we would add a possibility to hide/show any file with configurable prefix/suffix, we end up to loop where people wonders and asks why does not GTK+ applications hide them, or why does other users see them by default and people need to learn that different users has different ways to hide files.

What if we just would stick up with .hidden feature as it is compatible and actually very simple and powerful?

Why not just have the same thing as the Folderview widget, with the added functionality that "Show hidden files" shows them?

@Fri13:
It doesn't really break Unix compatibility (unless I misunderstand what you mean). And as mentioned on Bugzilla, Nautilus already supports hiding files on a per-folder basis.