Why is a directory have the appearence of a text file but system says its a directory????

smooth_buddha

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for some reason a folder (directory) i have on my desktop has the icon and appearance of a text file (ABC icon written on it). Folder name is called "linux_distros" so i ran command file linux_distros and shell tells me its a directory which it is but then why on the GUI does it appear to be a text file????

I know if i named the directory with a .txt at the end it would look like a text file but in this case i havnt done that! could anybody please shine any light as to why this is happening?
 


for some reason a folder (directory) i have on my desktop has the icon and appearance of a text file (ABC icon written on it). Folder name is called "linux_distros" so i ran command file linux_distros and shell tells me its a directory which it is but then why on the GUI does it appear to be a text file????

I know if i named the directory with a .txt at the end it would look like a text file but in this case i havnt done that! could anybody please shine any light as to why this is happening?
What's the output of
Code:
file linux_distros
Also, if you could post a screenshot so we can take a look at it.
 
It says its a directory
5789


now whats really strange is i renamed it as .txt file and it turns into a directory icon! I ant work out why its doing it
 
Right-click on it and check its properties. Try and check the desktop.file assigned to it, depending on the file manager and DE your using it might be named differently, however, desktop.files are located in the home directory on .local/share/applications. Also, from the properties box you could change the icon as well, you might try that and see if it works.
 
It might make a difference to know what distro you are using. It may be that there are text files in the directory, or it could be interpreting .iso files as some sort of text file. can't help much beyond that, as I don't keep anything on my desktop display except the picture of a nice forest lane.
 
It might make a difference to know what distro you are using. It may be that there are text files in the directory, or it could be interpreting .iso files as some sort of text file. can't help much beyond that, as I don't keep anything on my desktop display except the picture of a nice forest lane.
Its linux mint and the folder contains .iso files of different linux distributions. This is the only folder ive had this issue with
 
I'm pretty sure it's an interpretation issue, where the OS sees a folder full of like files that seem more like text. I'm at a loss. What do the folder icons look like when viewed in a file manager - I don't remember what Mint uses. Kubuntu has Dolphin.

If those folder icons show up as "text" icons also in the file manager, then it's probably a Mint issue, and I believe Mint has a bug tracker.
 
I'm pretty sure it's an interpretation issue, where the OS sees a folder full of like files that seem more like text. I'm at a loss. What do the folder icons look like when viewed in a file manager - I don't remember what Mint uses. Kubuntu has Dolphin.

If those folder icons show up as "text" icons also in the file manager, then it's probably a Mint issue, and I believe Mint has a bug tracker.
yeah it also shows up as a txt icon in the file manager, the bizzarre thing is if i rename the folder to a .txt then it shows up as a directory!!! its like its the wrong way round!
 

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