In Linux, files which name start by a dot ‘.’ are hidden by default in most file managers. However, there are cases when we want to hide dot-file from our view. For examples:

  • Desktop folder in our home folder.
  • Dropbox
  • lost+found directory at the partition root
  • …

In Nautilus (default GNOME file manager) there’s a way. Add a file named

.hidden

with each line is the name of the file/folder you want to hide.

For example, if you want to hide Desktop from home folder you may type this command in the terminal:

$ echo "Desktop" > ~/.hidden

Note: This trick only works in Nautilus. It won’t work in Konqueror or Dolphin. I don’t know if it works in other file managers or not.