What is a .DIRECTORY file?
The file extension ".DIRECTORY" is a type of file known as a KDE Folder View Properties File. This file is used in KDE, which stands for K Desktop Environment. KDE is a workspace and software environment for computers that provides a graphical interface for users, similar to Windows or macOS but often used on Linux systems.
The purpose of a .DIRECTORY file is to store specific settings related to how folders are displayed in the KDE environment. These settings can include where icons are placed within a folder, whether the folder's contents are shown as icons or in a list, and other viewing preferences. Essentially, it remembers how you like to see the contents of a folder so that it looks the same way each time you open it.
These .DIRECTORY files are automatically created or updated whenever you change how a folder is viewed in KDE. For example, if you decide to arrange icons in a folder differently or switch from viewing files as a list to viewing them as icons, KDE will save these preferences in a .DIRECTORY file associated with that folder.
By default, .DIRECTORY files are hidden. This means you won't normally see them when browsing through your folders. They work in the background to ensure your folder view settings are remembered.
To open or work with a .DIRECTORY file, you would typically do so within the KDE environment itself, since it's a file format specifically designed for and used by KDE. There isn't a need to open these files in a traditional sense, like you would a document or image, because they are more about settings than content you interact with directly. However, if you are using KDE and you navigate to a folder with customized view settings, KDE is effectively 'opening' and applying the .DIRECTORY file's settings to display the folder as you've previously specified.
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