Q:

How do I translate the "tar" shell commands into Python

I'm new to programming and I have been given the task of translating shell commands to python as a way of automating a processs. The following are the commands: 
$ cd /users/me/repos/
$ mv -i file file-1.0.0
$ tar cfz file-1.0.0.tgz file-1.0.0
$ mv -i file-1.0.0 file
$ tar xfz file-1.0.0.tgz

I know how to do it except the tar commands. I'm not sure what they do and how to implement them in Python. 

A:

This takes directory 'tar_file' in path 'tar_path' and creates a zipped version called of it called 'tar_file_file.tgz'. Then unzips contents into directory 'hello'
import os
import tarfile
from contextlib import closing

fun = "/users/me/temp/fun/"
tar_path = "{0}tar_file".format(fun)
hello = '{0}hello'.format(fun)

def makedir(dir_path):
    if not os.path.exists(dir_path):
        os.makedirs(dir_path)

makedir(fun)
os.chdir(fun)
makedir(hello)

    #create tgz, enable gzip, create archive file
def make_tarfile(output_filename, source_dir):
    with closing(tarfile.open(output_filename, "w:gz")) as tar:
        tar.add(source_dir, arcname = os.path.basename(source_dir))
    tar.close()

    #extract, unpack in gzip format, read archived content
def extract_tarfile(output_filename, source_dir):
    t = tarfile.open(output_filename, "r:gz")
    t.extractall(source_dir)

make_tarfile('tar_file_file.tgz', tar_path)
extract_tarfile('tar_file_file.tgz', hello)

