Tar (some versions at least?) is actually smart enough to detect which format to use based on file extension of the output, so you don’t need to remember which flag corresponds to which compressor. Examples:
tar -caf archive.tar.xz [files]
tar -caf archive.tar.bz2 [files]
# extract
tar -xf archive.tar.xz
tar -xf archive.tar.bz2
So you really only need to remember that c means create, x means extract
Tar (some versions at least?) is actually smart enough to detect which format to use based on file extension of the output, so you don’t need to remember which flag corresponds to which compressor. Examples:
So you really only need to remember that
cmeans create,xmeans extract