Reputation: 11341

How do I manually create a file with a . (dot) prefix in Windows? For example, .htaccess

I want to create a .htaccess file manually and discovered it seems impossible through the Windows UI. I get a "you must type a filename." message. There has to be a way to create files with . as a prefix in Windows.

Can this be done manually?

Enter image description here

Upvotes: 470

Answers (17)

OneTouchForHeight

Reputation: 139

in windows, you can also use cmd to create these type of file.

run cmd
goto directory where you want to create this folder
type mkdir .htacess

Please verify if this file is created or not.

Upvotes: -3

Jacky

Reputation: 101

Just type .htaccess. as filename. Notice the dot at the end of htaccess. This will change in Windows to .htaccess without a dot at the end.

Upvotes: 10

Jaime Montoya

Reputation: 7701

You can use echo. > .gitignore. This is how I achieved it to create .gitignore:

C:\Users\jaimemontoya\[path]>dir
 Volume in drive C is OS
 Volume Serial Number is 2BD2-JQ68

 Directory of C:\Users\jaimejaimemontoya\[path]

11/02/2021  02:42 AM    <DIR>          .
11/02/2021  02:42 AM    <DIR>          ..
11/05/2021  05:22 AM    <DIR>          .git
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          .gradle
11/02/2021  02:43 AM    <DIR>          .idea
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          app
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          build
..........
..........
              12 File(s)         14,104 bytes
               8 Dir(s)  231,501,361,152 bytes free
               
C:\Users\jaimemontoya\[path]>echo. > .gitignore

C:\Users\jaimemontoya\[path]>dir
 Volume in drive C is OS
 Volume Serial Number is 2BD2-JQ68

 Directory of C:\Users\jaimemontoya\[path]

11/05/2021  05:40 AM    <DIR>          .
11/05/2021  05:40 AM    <DIR>          ..
11/05/2021  05:22 AM    <DIR>          .git
11/05/2021  05:40 AM                 3 .gitignore
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          .gradle
11/02/2021  02:43 AM    <DIR>          .idea
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          app
11/02/2021  02:41 AM    <DIR>          build
..........
..........    
              13 File(s)         14,107 bytes
               8 Dir(s)  231,512,551,424 bytes free

Upvotes: 0

Matt Kieran

Reputation: 4220

Windows 7, 8 & 10

This is dead easy since Windows 7. In File Explorer, right click anywhere and create a new file. Type the new filename as .something. (notice the appended period) and press enter twice, job done.

So instead of being prompted with

You must type a file name.

You will instead be prompted with

If you change a file name extension, the file might become unusable.

Note: If you're having issues then please ensure you have "file name extensions" visible, you can activate this under the "View" menu in File Explorer. Also, this method works for folders too.

Upvotes: 308

theking2

Reputation: 2813

It seems that Microsoft finally is addressing this problem. Current versions in the Insider Editions of Explorer allows creating files with a dot at the front.

Tested with Build 19541

Upvotes: 2

debuglevel

Reputation: 508

Might sound unbelivable, but Windows 1903 finally allows to name files in Explorer with a leading dot :-)

Upvotes: 3

Eugine Joseph

Reputation: 1558

In Windows, just go to the folder using cmd and type the following command:

DIR>.htaccess

This command will create a .htaccess file and will dump some data in it. Remove the data, and it can be used as .htaccess file.

Upvotes: 2

Diego Ponciano

Reputation: 450

As an addition, if have Sublime Text installed in your development computer, you can drag the file to your opened Sublime Text window, right click the filename -> rename and enter whatever name even without any extension. This worked for me.

Upvotes: 0

Brian

Reputation: 8616

Use something like Notepad++ (or even Notepad), 'Save As', and enter the name .htaccess that way. I always found it weird, but it lets you do it from a program!

Upvotes: 4

Sachin Shanbhag

Reputation: 55489

You can save it using the Save As dialog using ".something".

Upvotes: 5

gpresland

Reputation: 1819

If you use Git and have Git Bash installed you can open a Git Bash at the directory (via Right Click in the white space in Explorer > Git Bash Here) and do:

touch .htaccess

Upvotes: 0

Nikoloff

Reputation: 4160

You could also use Command Prompt with move: move x.extension .extension

Upvotes: 11

Vicky Dev

Reputation: 2173

Even if you don't have any third party editor (Notepad++ etc.) then also you can create files with dot as prefix.

To create .htaccess file, first create htaccess.txt file with Context Menu > New Text Document.

Then press Alt + D (Windows 7) and Ctrl + C to copy the path from the Address bar of Windows Explorer.

Then go to command line and type code as below to rename your file:

rename C:\path\to\htaccess.txt .htaccess

Now you have a blank .htaccess without opening it in any editor.

Hope this helps you out.

Upvotes: 5

dhirschl

Reputation: 2098

Within Notepad select File > Save As...

File name: ".whatever you want" (with the leading dot)

You can do it in Explorer (in Windows 7) by adding a period at the end of the filename:

.whatever you want.

Windows will automatically remove the trailing dot when you validate.

Upvotes: 90

foens

Reputation: 8672

If you start Notepad and then File -> Save As -> Write .htaccess and choose "All Files" as the type - then it will create the .htaccess file for you.

Notepad save as .htaccess

Upvotes: 372

David Heffernan

Reputation: 612954

You can do this in any program other than Explorer, e.g. Notepad, cmd.exe etc.

You just can't do it in Explorer, and Raymond Chen has offered an explanation as to why not.

Upvotes: 9

Boocko

Reputation: 740

Go to command prompt, cd to the appropriate folder and type:

notepad .htaccess

After confirmation dialog the file will be created and you will be editing it directly. If you just want to create an empty file, try

echo. > .htaccess

Upvotes: 30

How do I manually create a file with a . (dot) prefix in Windows? For example, .htaccess

Answers (17)

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