How do I tar a directory of files and folders without including the directory itself?

Question

I typically do:

tar -czvf my_directory.tar.gz my_directory

What if I just want to include everything (including any hidden system files) in my_

Answer 1

function tar.create() {
        local folder="${1}"
        
        local tar="$(basename "${folder}")".tar.gz
        
        cd "${folder}" && tar -zcvf "../${tar}" .; cd - &> /dev/null
}

Example:

tar.create /path/to/folder

You are welcome.