Apple - How to set ⌘ + H to enable show hidden files
Edit at Nov 2018
This is all now moot since High Sierra. In Finder, Cmd ⌘ Shift ⇧ . [period, full stop] will toggle invisible files on the fly, nothing else needed.
Cmd ⌘ H is the system-wide shortcut for "Hide frontmost app"
To try tie a new shortcut to that, you could maybe use Automator to add a Service - but I still don't know how you would persuade it to override the existing System default.
This works as a Service if you use a non-system key, but not with Cmd ⌘ H
on run {input, parameters}
set newHiddenVisiblesState to "YES"
try
set oldHiddenVisiblesState to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
if oldHiddenVisiblesState is in {"1", "YES"} then
set newHiddenVisiblesState to "NO"
end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & newHiddenVisiblesState
tell application "Finder"
set theWindows to every Finder window
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in theWindows
set this_item to item i of theWindows
set theView to current view of this_item
if theView is list view then
set current view of this_item to icon view
else
set current view of this_item to list view
end if
set current view of this_item to theView
end repeat
end tell
return input
end run
Edit for El Capitan…
I've noticed that the Finder window refresh no longer works in El Capitan, so this is a modified version, quitting the Finder instead.
on run {input, parameters}
--Toggle Invisibles, El Capitan Version
set newHiddenVisiblesState to "YES"
try
set oldHiddenVisiblesState to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
if oldHiddenVisiblesState is in {"1", "YES"} then
set newHiddenVisiblesState to "NO"
end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & newHiddenVisiblesState & "; killall Finder"
end run
I guess you could make it work for the Finder only, if you specified some other key command for Hide Finder - as it is visible as a Menu item it would be possible to override for that app alone [by putting something 'useless' as an alternative], leaving you free to then use Cmd ⌘ H to toggle invisibles from the Finder only.
Tested - does work this way
Cmd ⌘ Shift ⇧ . will toggle hidden file display in the finder(In Sierra or later(but works in the open file dialogue in earlier versions)).