Operation Deep Search

find - a hands-on Linux lab on a real virtual machine.

The Search module capstone mission. Drill find (bare sweep, name, type, size, age), find -exec, updatedb, and locate in one hands-on sweep on a real Linux VM. Mission mode: no commands shown, recall required.

You have finished the Search module. Every command you need is already yours: find to hunt the live disk by name, type, size, and age, find with -exec to run a command on each hit, updatedb to build an index, and locate to query that index in an instant.

This is the final run. One real machine, a full archive to comb through, and fifteen objectives, each one a skill you already trained. Nothing new is introduced here.

This is mission mode. No commands are shown. You read the objective, recall the move, and type it. That recall is the whole point: it is how searching becomes reflex. Progress checks itself as you go, and a signal is one click away if you get stuck.

Two quick reps in the practice terminal before the real archive boots. Same rules as the mission: the goal is stated, the command is not. If these come back instantly, you are ready.

First rep. Inside the archive folder, hunt down every spreadsheet: files whose name ends in .csv. Sort the results so they read cleanly.

prompt: student@linuxcamp:~$ answer: find ~/archive -name '*.csv' | sort output: /home/student/archive/reports/2025/data.csv /home/student/archive/reports/2025/metrics.csv hint: The disk-hunting command, pointed at ~/archive, matching a name pattern with -name '*.csv'. Pipe to sort.

Second rep. Now find every config file, the ones ending in .conf. Watch for the one hiding with a leading dot.

prompt: student@linuxcamp:~$ answer: find ~/archive -name '*.conf' | sort output: /home/student/archive/config/.secret.conf /home/student/archive/config/app.conf /home/student/archive/config/logging.conf hint: Same command, name pattern '*.conf'. find matches hidden dotfiles too, so the .secret.conf shows up.

Both hits came from memory. Notice the second one: find matched .secret.conf even though it starts with a dot. That is the whole reason find beats a plain ls glob for a real search. Fifteen objectives on the live archive next, all in this same shape.

Both searches came from recall, not a copy button. That is exactly what the mission demands, fifteen times over: hunt by name, by type, by size, by age, run a command on each hit, then build an index and query it.

The archive lives in your home directory under a folder named archive. Boot the machine below and begin the sweep. No commands shown, progress checks itself as you type.

Practice Operation Deep Search in a real Linux terminal at The Linux Camp. Progress is verified automatically as you type commands on the machine.