Show hidden files on a Mac
The main idea is to edit ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist with Property List Editor and add a new property AppleShowAllFiles (or edit it if it already exists), of class type: Boolean, and set it’s value to Yes.
Than you must relaunch Finder. How? Hold option key wilst you are clicking on Finder’s icon from the Dock and choose Relaunch from the contextual menu.
To switch back, follow same process, but this time, AppleShowAllFiles value should be set up to No.
For command line fans, type in Terminal to show all files:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes killall Finder
or
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles No killall Finder
to switch back to the original state (do not shoe hidden files).
BTW, in a UNIX like environment, hidden files are those which are starting with a . (dot).
