Hide a file or directory using the Windows API from C

Question

I want to modify a C program to make some of the files it creates hidden in Windows. What Windows or (even better) POSIX API will set the hidden file attribute?

Answer 1

You can do it by calling SetFileAttributes and setting the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN flag. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365535%28VS.85%29.aspx

This is not POSIX though. To create a 'hidden' file under a normal POSIX system like Linux, just start a filename with a dot (.).