Script for toggling OS X “Show Hidden Files” in Terminal

Question

Is there a way to toggle the hidden files visibility on/off with a terminal script?

In pseudocode:

if can view hidden files

set com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles false

else

set com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true

killall Finder

Answer 1

#!/bin/bash

trap 'exit 0' EXIT
k="com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles"
read="`defaults read $k 2>&1 /dev/null`"
[[ "$read" == true || "$read" == 1 || "$read" == yes ]] && b=false || b=true
defaults write $k -bool $b
osascript -e 'try
quit app "Finder"
end
delay 0.1
tell app "Finder"
launch
delay 0.2
activate
end'

Answer 2

AppleScript or a shell script?

Of course I like the widget best.