(Unix) A file that is not visible by default to normal directory-browsing tools (on Unix, files named with a leading dot are, by convention, not normally presented in directory listings). Many programs define one or more dot files in which startup or configuration information may be optionally recorded; a user can customise the program's behaviour by creating the appropriate file in the current or home directory. Dot files tend to creep - with every nontrivial application program defining at least one, a user's home directory can be filled with scores of dot files, without the user really being aware of it.
(07 Dec 1994)