# Tar

## Create archive

Basic syntax:

```
tar -cvf archive.tar file1 file2 dir/
```

Common variants:

* Create compressed (gzip):

```
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz file1 dir/
```

* Create compressed (xz, smaller but slower):

```
tar -cJvf archive.tar.xz file1 dir/
```

* Create from entire directory:

```
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz myfolder/
```

* Exclude something:

```
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz myfolder/ --exclude="*.log"
```

Flags:

* `-c` create
* `-v` verbose (optional)
* `-f` filename
* `-z` gzip
* `-J` xz

If you want the reverse (extract), say it.