[infomagick]

How does one create a text file on the Mac without the .txt extention. I need to place a text file in the Home Directory (which I understand can be accessed by clicking on the house icon in Finder), but OSX keeps appending a .txt extension to the file. I believe this may be the problem as I just experienced a similar problem in Windows Vista (resolved by renaming the file from the DOS prompt) and was wondering if I could use the Unix shell on OSX to somehow rename the file excluding the extension (I don't know if this is even an option on OSX). The problem is I don't know OSX at all and would appreciate it if someone could tell me how to access the shell and how to navigate to the Finder directory. Thanks for any input or comments.

[macfan777]

If you're using TextEdit, when you save, click the down arrow next to the file name. The save dialog should display a mini-Finder view. Down at the bottom, you'll see a new option - Hide Extension. This option may or may not be available in all applications.

In addition, if you're using the text file for any sort of programming or technical uses, I'd highly recommend something like the free TextWrangler (google it) or the more advanced BBEdit. It's awesome for working with all kinds of source files and stuff and even has features like syntax coloring and some other really powerful features.

[Glun]

Something else you might like to know: TextEdit has the option to make things a Plain Text file... meaning the file includes nothing but the text. (as in, no size, font, colour, spacing or placing data)
If I am correct (which I'm not as often as I should want to be), these kind of files should be readable by any OS.

[infomagick]

Thanks for the advice folks, I report back with results as soon as I get back to the mac computer on which I was working. I think I will just go with macfans recommendation to try a new editor.

[dannyn]

rich text work with almost everything..btw

[infomagick]

Well, I couldn't get TextEditor to save the file as a text file without the .txt extension and I tried several different ways. OSX was showing it, after several somewhat awkward maneuvers, correctly (with no text extention) on the home directory, in properties, and in info without the .txt; but, when I went into Terminal, there was the darned .txt extension again. Fortunately, from Terminal, it was a snap to *really* change the file to plain text without the extension by simply renaming it. Thanks to all for your help with this, everything is fine now. :-)

[dannyn]

That doesn't really solve the problem, but good thinking.

[pillainp]

On Windows, the easy way to do what infomagick wants would be to type out the text in NotePad, and then in the Save As box, set the File Type to "All Files", enclose the file name in quotes (eg. "Filename"), and hit the "Save" button.

Does Mac let you do this? Purely asking for curiosity.