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LaTerral Williams
LaTerral Williams

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🔍"I Will Find You..." - Taken (Linux Edition)

#cloudwhistler #linux #opensource #cloud

Hello again, Linux Learners!

I’m currently leveling up my Linux skills through a training course, and let’s be honest, sometimes the CLI can feel like a maze. But what if Liam Neeson from Taken were your mentor? 😎

“I don’t know who you are... I don’t know what you want... But I will find you...”

In this article, we’re diving into four essential Linux commands. First, we’ll create the files and folders we need to practice. You'll be the hero, and your terminal is your weapon of choice. Let’s go full Bryan Mills on these commands. 💼🔧

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📚 Table of Contents

⚙️ Setting Up Your Taken-Inspired Practice Environment

Before we start running commands, let’s create a mission simulation in your home directory. We’ll generate files with:

  • Different names
  • Different sizes (small and large)
  • Different owners (optional)
  • Different folders

You’ll be ready to test find, head, tail, and wc like a real digital detective.

📁 Step 1: Create Directories 

mkdir -p ~/taken_mission/{documents,secure,interrogation-room,kidnapper}
cd ~/taken_mission
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📄 Step 2: Create Test Files

🔹 2.1 Regular Text Files 

cd documents
echo "Secret USB Data" > usb_dump.txt
echo "clue file 1" > clue1.log
echo "clue file 2" > clue2.log
echo -e "We have your daughter.\nBring $5 million.\nNo police." > ../ransom_note.txt
echo -e "This is line 1\nThis is line 2\nThis is line 3" > suspicious_log.txt
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🔹 2.2 Create Large Files 

fallocate -l 120M largefile1.log
fallocate -l 200M largefile2.log
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yes "Log Entry" | head -n 2000000 > verbose_log.log
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⚠️ Caution:

The command above writes "Log Entry" 2 million times to the verbose_log.log file.

🚫 DO NOT open this file using cat, nano, or a graphical text editor, it could freeze your terminal or system.

✅ Instead, safely preview the file using:

head verbose_log.log
tail verbose_log.log
wc -l verbose_log.log

These commands let you inspect the beginning, end, or line count without overloading your system.

🔹 2.3 Simulate Different File Owners 

sudo useradd kim
sudo chown kim:kim usb_dump.txt
ls -l usb_dump.txt
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🔹 2.4 Add Files to Other Folders 

cd ~/taken_mission/kidnapper
echo "Surveillance data" > cam_feed1.log
fallocate -l 150M cam_feed2.log
cd ~/taken_mission
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🎯 Mission 1: The `find` Command - Your Digital Bloodhound

🧪 Syntax 

find [path] [options] [actions]
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🕵️‍♂️ Common Options

Option Description
-name Search by name (case-sensitive)
-iname Search by name (case-insensitive)
-size +100M Files larger than 100MB
-user kim Files owned by specific user
-type f Files only

🛠️ Actions

Action Description
-exec cp {} /path \; Copy found files
-exec mv {} /path \; Move found files
-exec rm {} \; Delete found files

🎬 Scenario: The USB Drive Mystery 

find ~/taken_mission/documents -name "usb_dump.txt"
find ~/taken_mission/documents -size +100M
find ~/taken_mission/documents -name "usb_dump.txt" -exec cp {} ~/taken_mission/secure/ \;
find ~/taken_mission/documents -name "usb_dump.txt" -exec mv {} ~/taken_mission/interrogation-room/ \;
find ~/taken_mission/documents -name "usb_dump.txt" -exec rm {} \;
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❗ usb_dump.txt still there?

Hmmm... 🤔 take a look at the file permissions.

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🔐 I'll let you decide how to tackle the file removal...

I changed the owner to root and then ran the command again using sudo:

sudo find ~/taken_mission/documents -name "usb_dump.txt" -exec rm {} \;
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📄 Mission 2: `head` & `tail` - Catch the Beginning or End of a File

📌 head 

head -n 5 ~/taken_mission/documents/suspicious_log.txt
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Option Description
-n N Show the first N lines
-c N Show the first N bytes
-q Suppress headers for multiple files

📌 tail 

tail -n 5 ~/taken_mission/documents/suspicious_log.txt
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Option Description
-n N Show the last N lines
-f Follow the file in real-time
-c N Show the last N bytes

🔢 Mission 3: `wc` - Word Count for the Digital Detective

wc ~/taken_mission/ransom_note.txt
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Option Description
-l Line count
-w Word count
-c Byte count
-m Character count 
wc -lwm ~/taken_mission/ransom_note.txt
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🔁 Final Mission: All Commands, One Operation

find ~/taken_mission/documents -type f -name "*.log" -size +100M > ~/taken_mission/suspect_logs.txt

while read file; do
  echo "==> $file <=="
  tail -n 10 "$file"
  wc -l "$file"
done < ~/taken_mission/suspect_logs.txt
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🤔 I was curious why the verbose_log.log file wasn’t being picked up...

💡 Then it hit me — 2000000 bytes is only 2 MB, not 200 MB!

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🎤 Final Words

These Linux commands aren’t just useful for action movie heroes, they’re your go-to tools for file ops, log inspection, and automation. Whether you're tracking a villain or just managing your system, remember:

“Good luck...” — with your Linux journey!

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