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androidandroid-security

What is the advantage of prefixing the folder name with (DOT) in android?

If I have a folder named '.IMAGES' in my SDCARD containing jpg files, what will happen to the images in the folder?

Solution

  • Android is a Unix-style operating system. Which means that they are following POSIX style conventions rather than the classic Windows ones we know so dearly.

    In simpler terms Windows uses a hidden flag for folders like the "AppData"-folder that usually contain configuration files and should be hidden to the common user.

    Unix-systems (Linux, OSX) uses the "dot"-convention which makes it easier to spot/set hidden files/folders by just applying a dot in the name of the file/folder.

    Why it's so is probably argued and I think many theories exist. If you are interested check the following link

    To answer your question the map is probably created by another app to cache content and in this case images or photos. Check the contents and see if there are thumbnails or similar