11 macOS Terminal Tricks to Achieve The Super-Impossible

Terminal freaks out non-techies — but some commands are actually helpful

Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash

• File tricks

#1. Hide a file

Apple’s clever to hide macOS’s crucial system files, so by no chance you’d mess with them and corrupt the system.

But what if you have such an important file/folder you don’t wanna accidentally delete or not let anyone else peek thru? How would you hide it?

Simply use chflags hidden <path> on Terminal, and the file disappears.

But, getting a file’s <path> is a bit tedious, right? So,

(Trick)

Instead, type chflags hidden on Terminal (Notice the space at the end). Drag and drop the file to be hidden on Terminal.

Now see, the path’s pasted at the end of the command. Just hit return and the file vanishes.

Note: You may need to execute 'killall Finder' if it doesn't vanish immediately.