# 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