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Cameron Scully
Cameron Scully
2,919 Points

Why is there a _MACOSX folder in my zipped folder for my project?

I'm just about to start my first front end development class projects, and I began to download my file after reading the information listed on the site about what to do.

When my zipped folder downloaded, I noticed there it contains 2 similar folders, but one folder contains some extra files (the folder called _MACOSX ), whereas the other folder looks more familiar to the folders and files that I have practiced with. They look like both folders are nested differently, and I dont want to choose the wrong folder by mistake to submit. Do I just delete the other? I can't seem to find any information pointing to a solution on the web. The only insightful info I have remotely found helpful is that the _MACOSX folder name stands for MAC OS X, maybe an OS for Swift? I personally know very little about Apple OS, so I'm even more confused.

1 Answer

andren
andren
28,558 Points

Mac OS X is an old name for the OS that runs on Apple's Mac computers. The _MACOSX directory is used by OS X (now called MacOS) to provide some extra information about the files and folders.

They are only designed to be used with OS X / MacOS and serve no purpose on other operating systems like Windows or Linux. You can safely ignore or even delete the _MACOSX folder without causing any issues.