Cosmetic: Do not display OSX hidden files

[dempson]

I finally realized that it's Google Drive creating all these Icon files. Google Drive changes folder and file icons to represent if a folder is shared, syncing, etc. Dropbox does the same thing, but I've never seen Icon files in my Dropbox folder.

In OS X 10.9 and earlier, Dropbox implements its status badge on icons via an unsupported hack of Finder. Apple didn't like that so they added an official mechanism to extend Finder in OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and recent versions of Dropbox are using that method.

I don't use Google Drive so I don't know if its client has caught up and is now using that mechanism, which would be a better solution than custom icons. I haven't spotted any release notes or evidence of updates since Yosemite was released.

[Narbat]

You can also do this:

Icon[^ -~]

In case that doesn't display well, what's inside the brackets is "caret space dash tilde". Caret negates the pattern, space is the first printable ASCII character, and tilde is the last printable ASCII character. So, the pattern matches "Icon" followed by any single character that is *not* a printable ASCII character. Unfortunately, Unicode characters also fall outside the ASCII printable set, so it will also match "Icon" followed by a single Unicode character. Don't go naming your files "Icon☞" to indicate that it's an icon of a pointing finger. "Icon☞.png" is fine though, since more than a single character follows "Icon".

Regex support, Aaron. Take down a feature request to give us regex support in the filename filters!

As for hidden files, OSX has at least two, possibly three different ways to hide a file from Finder.

1) The standard Unix way by starting the name with '.'
2) Setting the HFS "hidden" flag via the chflags command
3) I'm not sure, but I *think* there's different "hidden" flag in the com.apple.FinderInfo attribute accessible via the xattrs command. My Google-Fu is failing me right now, I'm having trouble finding docs on that attribute.

[Aaron]

Thanks and noted RegEx in the wishlist. We've also been bouncing back and forth via email, and hit the:
Icon[^ ~]
filter option as well. Is the dash necessary? You might be onto a case I missed.

[NeedleFactory]

Macintosh users *need* a toggle to ignore the comparison of .DS_Store Files

Yes, the files Unix traditionally considers hidden are those that start with ., and a filenames filter of -.* will exclude all of them already. On Windows we did introduce an option, "Ignore protected operating system files", which excludes any files or folders that have both the hidden and system attributes set. It's toggleable, and Suppress Filters does work with it, but it's also on by default to match Explorer's behavior. We could do something similar on Mac. I think there's one other way to make files hidden in Finder using one of the extended attributes, and we don't currently heave a way to exclude those, other than by name.

I am new to Beyond Compare, and think there may be a need, on the Macintosh, to be able to omit the comparison of the invisible files called “.DS_Store”. Example:

[ note: forum software has removed indentation of this "paragraph", sorry. ]
Create T1 and T2 inside “Compare Test”.
Copy folder AB into T1. (this folder contains files A and B)
Use “Beyond Compare” to compare T1 and T2
Diffs: (all as expected)
.DS_Store in T2/AB; none in T1/AB
.DS_Store in T1; none in T2
B in T1/AB, not in T2/AB
Use “Beyond Compare” to copy T1/AB/B into T2/AB
Use “Beyond Compare” to compare T1 and T2
Diffs:
T1/AB is black, T2/AB is purple
T2/AB contains a .DS_Store file, T1/AB does not
T1/.DS_Store (in red) mismatches T2/.DS_Store

The “comparison” can be “corrected” my using “Beyond Compare” to copy .DS_Store files from one place to another, but this can cause bad effects in the file structure (for example, given two folders with several levels of subfolders, It can be the case that either
(a) .DS_Store files at various levels will mis-compare (by date), with this mis-compare propagating upward, or
(b) attempting to “repair” such mis-comparisons by copying .DS_Store files, one can reach a worse situation where a few “identical” sub-folders in corresponding parent folders are each “missing” in the other’s parent.

This can be extraordinarily messy when comparing two folders, each “identical” (or nearly so) but given deeply nested folders, “Beyond Compare” will sprinkle throughout its comparison session red, purple, and half-red&half-purple coloring throughout dozens of lines, all because of .DS_Store files.

I therefore suggest that the ability to ignore .DS_Store files is a NEEDED option for Mac users.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the feedback. This is something we're looking into, but for the meantime, you would need to define a File name Filter to exclude ".DS_Store", or other invisible files, by name.

Would "-.*" work for you to hide all leading '.' files?

[NeedleFactory]

Thanks, Aron.

(1) Elsewhere in this thread I found the “trick” of right-clicking a filename and using the “exclude” preference. That worked for me. Finding that advice was a matter of chance and finding the forum. A bit of luck for the new user. (I call it a “trick” because it is un-obvious to a brand new user).

(2) I gather that Beyond Compare is a good and old product, just recently moving into the Macintosh realm. Thus:

(3) You will be getting new users who, although experienced with Apple products, will be new to your Beyond Compare. I think it would be good for your product to have “good” defaults for new Mac users, so they won’t make blundering mistakes (as I did, a 40-year user of Macintoshes, but a newbie with Beyond Compare). I suggest that:

(4) The “Startup” Preference Pane for Macintosh users, which already mentions comparisons, be augmented to include another set of radio buttons:
• compare all files
• compare visible files only
• compare all files except invisible “.DS_Store” files
To minimize problems for Beyond Compare newbies, I suggest the last option be the default. (Newbies will quickly find the option to hide other invisible files if they wish; but the .DS_Store files are dangerous to monkey with, easily done with Beyond Compare.)

(5) Yes, "-.*" work for me to hide all leading '.' files. But the filter automatically defined by the “exclude” technique above is what I wanted; Fortunately, the right-click technique was what I needed, because I didn’t want to take the time to find, and learn, your syntax for file filters (but it is nice to know it’s available if/when I need it).

Great product. Thanks.