tar -czvf name-of-archive.tar.gz /path/to/directory-or-file

# -c: Create an archive.
# -z: Compress the archive with gzip.
# -v: Display progress in the terminal while creating the archive, also known as “verbose” mode. The v is always optional in these commands, but it’s helpful.
# -f: Allows you to specify the filename of the archive.