Is the second definite article necessary in "I created an application to toggle the visibility of the dotfiles"?

Zoli

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Romania
In computing, dotfiles refer to a distinct category of files.

Dotfiles are files whose filename begins with a dot (.) and typically contain configuration information for various applications.
Source: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers

Considering this context, I was wondering if the second article 'the' is necessary when discussing the general toggling of dotfiles, not a specific set of dotfiles.

I created an application to toggle the visibility of dotfiles.
or
I created an application to toggle the visibility of the dotfiles.
 

teechar

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Iraq
Current Location
Iraq
In fact, you should not use it if you are talking in general about "dotfiles".
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I don't understand the jargon itself but it's possible you could do away with other article as well, if you said "I've created an app to toggle dotfile visibility".
 
Top