# Create a tar file:
tar cf archive.tar file1 [...]
# Create a compressed tar file:
tar cjf archive.tar.bz2 file1 [...]
# Create a older compressed tar file:
tar czf archive.tar.gz file [...]
# Extract a .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz, or .tbz2 file:
tar xf archive.tbz2
# list the files inside the archive:
tar tf archive.tar