Re: "." files in the Open File, Files list?

[Mario Vukelic <mario vukelic chello at>]

On Mon, 2002-02-18 at 22:17, THO wrote:

> How can I make hidden files and directories visible in the "Open
> File..." dialog box? 

The gtk file dialogs are so cryptic they really could do with a help
button that explains basic usage. For if they had that, people wouldn't
bitch about them so much, as they are actually very good to navigate if
you know how. You just need to use them with more of a shell mindset and
give the mouse some rest.

They support Tab completion in the Selection field. Therefore, if you
are in your home directory and have, say, a directory named Documents
and one named Distro-stuff, you simply type in the Selection field "D"
[Tab]. Then you see only the directories starting with "D" in the
direcory listing. Then you type o [Tab] and you automatically change
into Documents, since it's the only one starting with "Do". Armed with
that knowledge, its easy to see that . [Tab] (that is dot [Tab]) in your
home directory lists all hidden dirs in the left pane (directory
listing) and all hidden files in the right pane. It's just that nobody
can figure that out from looking at it, and only users acquainted with
the shell would ever try it

Further lessons:
.. [Tab] (dot dot [Tab]) takes you up one directory
Filename wildcards are supported: b* [Tab] shows all dirs and files
beginning with b and b?n [Tab] shows all files beginning with b followed
by any character and ending with n.

Lots of uther lessons are possible but are left as an exercise to the
reader :)
-- 

I did not vote for the Austrian government