Extract from the article:
Linux Tar Quickstart, create and extract files from archives.
The tar utility is used to work with archive files and has 8 modes of operation and several options. The most used operations are ...
fiveminKevin- Arguments to tar fall into one of two classes: operations, and options. Operations; exactly one of these is both allowed and required for any instance of using tar; you may not specify more than one. Options; You are not required to specify any options, and you are allowed to specify more than one at a time (depending on the way you are using tar at that time).