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- [Instructor] While we're on the topic

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of Apple specific files starting

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with a dot or period,

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I'd like to take a few minutes to talk

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about another kind of file that the Mac seems

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to scatter around.

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If we customize anything in a folder view

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in Finder on Mac Os, such as placing icons

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in custom locations, or changing the view preferences

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for that folder, Mac OS will create a file

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in that folder called .DS_store.

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These DS store files, Short Forward Desktop Services Store,

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contain the data for a given folders appearance,

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if there have been any Mac OS specific changes made.

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And the file can be read by other Mac's

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to apply those transformations or preferences when

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a folder is viewed there.

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For example, if the customizations were made

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on a portable or shared disc.

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This is not file system metadata.

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It's more like a configuration file for Finder.

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But these files are common enough that it's important

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to know what they are.

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And, we should know about them,

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because they can contain information

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about other files.

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In addition to being generated for us,

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when we customize a Finder view,

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DS store files are also often used

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in standalone software installers.

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Where we open a disc image file and there's

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a little icon with an arrow, or

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some other custom background art, pointing

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to an alias for the applications folder.

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For example, I'll open up a Firefox installer here.

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This visual effect is often accomplished

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with a pre-designed DS store file and the hidden flag

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on other files,

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to hide anything that the user shouldn't see.

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I'll turn on invisibles here with command, shift, period.

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And notice there's some other files.

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These items are both invisible, because they start

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with a period.

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And this disc image has been customized

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with a background image.

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Stored in this directory.

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And it has a custom image set for its volume as well.

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This is the big version of this little icon up here.

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The icon size and position are stored in a DS store file,

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but we don't see that here.

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I'll switch over to my terminal.

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And move into this disc image.

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Here's that DS store file.

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For Mac users, these DS store files are, usually,

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not a problem if we're working within the GUI.

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But, when Mac users work in the terminal or exchange files

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with users of other platforms,

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the DS store files are more evident.

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As long as we don't, actually, need the DS store files

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and the customizations they represent,

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one strategy we can use to get rid of these files

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in a given folder or on a shared disc, or something, is

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to run find.-name .DS store-delete.

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And usually, if we're exchanging files

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with someone on a different platform,

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we don't need these files,

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because they can't really use them anyway.

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Finder will often regenerate these though,

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so this procedure is best done as a final step

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in preparing a shared disc for distribution.

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There are also other tricks for handling these files

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in various scenarios.

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For example, we can add a pattern for these files

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to a .gitignore file, if we're working

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with a Git repository that ends up containing some

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of these files.

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And, various file server protocols can suppress these files

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from being created or from being shown

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at the server level.

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Each user can, also, instruct their Mac

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to not create these files on network shares

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with the terminal command defaults

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write com.apple.desktopservices

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DSDon'tWriteNetworkStores true.

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DS store files do contain some information that can

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be sensitive.

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Information, like the names of files in a directory.

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Along with other information that's usually less sensitive,

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like, whether the Finder window should show a column or

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a list view, which tool bars to show, and so on.

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While these files are mostly just annoying debris

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to non Mac users, if we get our hands on a DS store file,

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we can peek inside with a text editor or other program

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to see what we can find.

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Like Apple double files.

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These DS store files are often referred

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to as junk by Mac users and non Mac users alike,

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because they appear to litter the file system

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with useless files, but they have their purpose

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and they're a fairly durable way

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of ensuring that user customizations

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for Finder can persist locally and aren't lost,

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when writing files to non Apple file systems.