How to TAR all the files and dir to a single tar file

Hi guys,
Can you tell me how to tar all the files and subdirectories under a directory.

If i am in XX dir,i need to tar all the files/dir toa ir file(i mean copy all the files/dir to a tar file).

see posting in database administration

bash$ tar -cvf test_tar.tar *
SlideLib/
SlideLib/test_model.sql
SlideLib/trg_new_slide.sql
SlideLib/sec_pac.sql
SlideLib/cng_user.sql
SlideLib/xml_pack/
SlideLib/xml_pack/xml_pack_1.sql
SlideLib/tree_pack/
SlideLib/tree_pack/Get_Attr_ID.sql
SlideLib/tree_pack/del_cat_v2.sql
SlideLib/tree_pack/del_tree.sql
SlideLib/ins_old_data.sql
SlideLib/slide_production.sql
SlideLib/user_add_tbl.sql
SlideLib/reset_seq.sql
SlideLib/test/
dump_csv.sql
medimmune/
medimmune/avg_rating.sql
medimmune/summary.sql
rac_test.java
test_load.ctl
test_load.log

Keep in mind that using * in the directory you are tarring up will not include any hidden dot files in that directory, at least not with the tar shipped with AIX 4.3.

--
Paul