Enable Find and Replace to Search and Update Hidden Files (Dot Files)

[Geek091]

I recently moved a site from http to https, which meant updating all the internal links that pointed to the absolute paths, as well as all the .htaccess files and some other hidden files. That's when I learned that DW doesn't seem to search in dot files. Is there any way to enable it to?

Thanks,

Richard

[Nancy OShea]

How many .htaccess files do you have?

I have only 1 per site and I always edit that file manually.

Nancy

[Geek091]

In the site in question, several dozen. It's a rather large and very complex site.

The client's business has grown exponentially in the 10 years since I've been maintaining the site, opening new offices, adding new services, dropping some services that weren't profitable, splitting some services into multiple pages, and combining other services into single pages. The .htaccess files do traffic-cop duty redirecting hits on the old pages to the new ones, among other things.

There are also other hidden files whose content DW doesn't check, mainly scripts and the like that we don't want the public directly accessing. Basically it won't search in any dot files at all.

I was able to find all the http references in one of the bazillion text editors I have (I forget which one offhand), but I was surprised that DW doesn't have the capability to search in hidden files. Or if it does, I can't find the way to enable it.

Thanks,

Richard

[Nancy OShea]

With Files Panel open,  click on the 4 bar icon.  Select View > Show Hidden Files.  See screenshot.

[Geek091]

Thanks, but that doesn't do it. That displays the hidden files in the file tree, but DW still doesn't search inside of them when running Find and Replace.

Richard

[Nancy OShea]

I guess you have your answer.  You can submit a feature request from the Help menu.

[Geek091]

Thanks for trying.

My hunch is that DW can search dot files, but doesn't by default. I'll send a ticket later on today and see. Maybe there's some obscure setting somewhere.

Richard