file attributes are like switches. If the switch for Hidden is on, the file is a hidden file. If the switch for Hidden is off, the file is not a hidden file.
This analogy can be carried further by noting that light switches are typically under your control: you can choose to turn them on, or you can choose to turn them off.
In this QTip we are going to write a generic function that would retrieve a folder attributes as a string abbreviation.

File Attributes