Compress directory into tarball on Linux machine
From AcrodusWiki
This is the command, and more importantly the options for compressing a directory or folder into a tarball on linux.
tar -czvf filename.tar.gz /path/to/directory
Ensure that you create the tarball with touch first.
Also to unzip use the command and options.
tar -xvf /path/to/tarball
-x : extract -v : give more info -f : filename
you can also use the -C to specify output directory
tar -xvf /path/to/tarball.tar/.gz -C /path/to/directory