Show hidden files and folders within Mac terminal

Question

I can't believe I can't find a good solution... I have a hidden folder named .venv that I would like to show in my Mac OS Monterey 12.3.1 terminal output.

I've tried:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

but when I open the terminal in the directory containing .venv and type ls, the hidden folder is not returned. What gives?

Koontz

The AppleShowAllFiles controls what you see in Finder, not in Terminal. In Terminal, ls will exclude dot files and ls -a or ls -A will include dot files. You can also add -a as a default option, as shown here. – Referendum

But, this is off topic for Stack Overflow and will likely be closed as such. – Referendum

This works- thanks! My bad about the wrong forum – Koontz

Answer 1

Have you tried using the -a flag for ls?

1. To list all files (including hidden files): $ ls -a
2. To list all files in a list with more details: $ ls -al
3. Alias (shortcut) for 2. $ ll

ls itself usually ignores entries starting with '.', and the -a or --all flag ignores that protection.

Use ls --help in your terminal to review all available flags.

Norri