Which command is used to create a compressed archive of a directory?

The command that creates a compressed archive of a directory is indeed the one using the tar utility, specifically with the -czf options. This command performs multiple functions: it creates an archive, compresses it using gzip, and specifies the output file name.

When examining this command, tar serves as a versatile tool in Linux for archiving files and directories. The options used have the following purposes:

• c stands for "create", indicating that a new archive is to be made.

• z tells tar to compress the archive using gzip.

• f indicates that the next argument will be the name of the archive file to be created.

The resulting file, typically with a .tar.gz extension, is a single archive file that contains all the contents of the specified directory, compressing the data to save space.

While the command using zip would also create a compressed archive, it is primarily intended for compressing individual files or sets of files rather than handling directories unless paired with the -r option, which recursively includes all files and directories under the specified directory. However, this method is less commonly used for complete backups compared to tar.

The gzip command