In this Linux Tips article I will show you how to view hidden files with ls, Thunar, Nautilus, and Dolphin.

LS

If you need to see hidden files using the ls command you need to add the -a switch. But if you just add the -a switch most likely your files will fly by you and you will miss what you are looking for. To avoid this pipe the command through the less command like so:

ls -a | less

The above command will allow you to page through the contents so you can actually see what is there. You can scroll either up or down using the arrow keys or you can scroll down one page at a time with the space bar.

Thunar

Figure 1

If you don’t know, Thunar is the file manager for the Enlightenment desktop. In order to see hidden files in Thunar click the View menu and check the Show Hidden Files box (as shown in Figure 1.) Or you can hit the key combination Ctrl-H.

If you use the key combination you must make sure you are focused on the Thunar window. When you set Thunar to view hidden files it will always do so until you unset this option.

Nautlius

Figure 2

Nautilus is the file manager for the GNOME desktop. With the Nautilus file manager viewing hidden files is done in the same way. From the View menu select the Show Hidden Files option (see Figure 2) or hit the key combination Ctrl-H. Like Thunar, if you use the key combination you must be focused on the Nautilus window.

And like Thunar, the hidden file option will stick until it is unset.

Dolphin

Figure 3

Dolphin is the KDE file manager that replaced Konqueror. In order to view hidden files in this file manager you select the View Hidden Files option from the View menu. You can also enable this action by hitting the Ctrl-. key combination. And like both Thunar and Nautilus, in order to use the key combination Dolphin must be in focus or the combination will not work.

Again, like the other graphical file managers, this option will remain until unset.

Final Thoughts

Hidden files are an important part of the Linux operating system. Although you can go your entire Linux lifetime without ever having to view a single hidden file, on that one occasion that you will need to do so, it’s good to know how.

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One of the reasons you should take a moment to get to know this tool is that it is quite different from Explorer. Although fundamentally you tackle the same tasks with both tools there are enough differences to confuse the new user. To this end, let’s examine the ins and outs of the Nautilus file manager.

Layout

Nautilus Main Window

Unlike Explorer (and many other File Managers), Nautilus is a single-pane file manager. You can not change the view to split-pane mode or dual-pane mode. You get what you get…a single window showing you files and directories.

As you can see (in the image to the right) the Nautilus interface is very clean and simple. But your first thought might be, “How do I drag and drop a file into another directory?” We’ll get to that in a moment.

Each time you double click on a directory a new window will open to that directory. You will then have two windows open. This makes dragging and dropping simple. Careful though, the default drag and drop action is not to copy but to move. So if you plan on copying a file from one window to the next you will have to right click the file (or directory) and select “Copy”. To paste the file (or directory) you will go to the target directory and either click Edit and then click Paste or right click within the directory and select “Paste”.

Nautilus List View

You can also switch from Icon or List view. In the image above you can see Nautilus in Icon mode. The image to the left shows Nautilus in List View mode. As you can see each directory can be expanded to reveal its contents.

But what about navigating directories? Normally, in Linux, you would scroll to the top of a directory and see an entry that was either “..” or “./” and you knew you could click (or double click) on this to navigate up one directory. In Nautilus you won’t see this. Instead you will notice, in the bottom left corner, an dropdown that shows your current working directory. If you click that dropdown it will reveal all directories above the current working directory.The Image below and to the right shows this dropdown in action.

Directory Dropdown

As you can see the gHacks directory is found in the /home/jlwallen/Pictures directory. You can open a new Nautilus window in any one of these directories by selecting the target from the dropdown.

Another way of quick navigation is the Places menu. If you click on that menu you will see a number of various directories. You can also add bookmarks to this menu by selecting the Add Bookmark entry from within the current working directory.

The Bookmarks Menu

The nice thing about adding bookmarks is that they are then added to the Bookmark submenu in the Places menu on the GNOME Panel.

You can also edit your bookmarks by selecting Edit Bookmarks from within the “Places” Nautilus menu.

Configurations

And of course there are plenty of configurations to undertake with Nautilus.

If you click the Edit menu you will see the Preferences entry. Click that to open the Preferences window where you will see six tabs: View, Behavior, Display, List Columns, Preview, and Media. One of the more important tabs is the Media tab. This is where you configure which applications will open different types of files.

Final Thoughts

The Nautilus file manager is an outstanding tool to manage your files and directories. Once you get used to the differences between this tool and your previous file manager, you will come to find Nautilus to be one outstanding utility.

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The good news is that burning CDs in Linux is very simple and doesn’t require the addition of third-party software. Let’s take a look at how to handle this job in a default GNOME 2.24.2 installation.

Where is the application?

Menu Entry

In the latest GNOME there is an application for burning CDs but you don’t really need to know where it is or what it is called. Why? If you click on the Places menu you will see an entry titled CD/DVD Creator.

Once you click on this entry a special Nautilus window will open that allows you to drag and drop files into the window for burning.

The Burn Window

Once this new Nautilus window is open you can drag and drop files from other Nautilus windows. Once you have added the files and/or directories you want to burn onto CD you just have to insert a blank disk into your drive and then click the Write To Disk button in the burn window.

Options

When you click Write To Disk you will then need select your device (if you have more than one), give the disk a name, select the write speed, and click Write.

A progress window will open during the writing of the disk. When the disk is complete the CD will eject and you’re finished.

Simple!

Final Thoughts

One of the only downfalls to this system is you can not burn ISO images. For that you will want something like K3B (check out my gHacks article “Burn CD and DVD Images with K3B“). Other than that, the GNOME CD/DVD burn process is as simple as it gets.

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