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This is the GNU Tar manual
http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/tar.html#SEC_Top

This is a command I use to create an archive
eg

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cd /etc
tar -zcpf /home/user/move/etc_mail.tar.gz mail

the parameters used in tar line above
-z means use compression
c means create an archive
p means Normally when creating an archive, tar strips an initial ‘/’ from member names. This option disables that behavior.
f /home/user/move/etc_mail.tar.gz means the tar archive is stored in a file etc_mail.tar.gz located in /home/user/move directory
the last parameter mail means that the operation will occur on the mail directory and all files and directories below

This is the command I use to extract the contents of the archive

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tar -zxpf etc_mail.tar.gz

This is the command to list the contents of the archive

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tar -ztf etc_mail.tar.gz