When you're initializing git repos and using the finder, it is very convenient to be able to see hidden files in OSX. Here's how:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder

And if you want an alias:

alias show-hidden-files="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE; killall Finder" # Show hidden files alias hide-hidden-files="defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE; killall Finder" # hide hidden files

A shout out to my buddy Dv for giving me these lines so graciously while pair programming yesterday.