diff --git a/Doc/library/tarfile.rst b/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
--- a/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/tarfile.rst
@@ -586,16 +586,48 @@ A :class:`TarInfo` object also provides 
    Return :const:`True` if it is a FIFO.
 
 
 .. method:: TarInfo.isdev()
 
    Return :const:`True` if it is one of character device, block device or FIFO.
 
 
+.. _tarfile-commandline:
+
+The Command Line Interface
+--------------------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 3.4
+
+.. cmdoption:: -l <tarfile>
+               --list <tarfile>
+
+   List files in a tarfile.
+
+.. cmdoption:: -c <tarfile> <source1> <sourceN>
+               --create <tarfile> <source1> <sourceN>
+
+   Create tarfile from source files.
+
+   .. code-block:: bash
+
+       $ python -m tarfile -c biggles.tar spam.txt eggs.txt
+
+.. cmdoption:: -t <tarfile>
+               --test <tarfile>
+
+   Test if a tarfile is valid.
+
+.. cmdoption:: -e <tarfile>
+               --extract <tarfile>
+
+   Extract tarfile into the current directory.
+
+
 .. _tar-examples:
 
 Examples
 --------
 
 How to extract an entire tar archive to the current working directory::
 
    import tarfile
diff --git a/Lib/tarfile.py b/Lib/tarfile.py
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py
@@ -2421,8 +2421,70 @@ def is_tarfile(name):
         t = open(name)
         t.close()
         return True
     except TarError:
         return False
 
 bltn_open = open
 open = TarFile.open
+
+
+def main():
+    import argparse
+
+    config = dict(description='A simple command line interface for '
+                              'tarfile module.')
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(**config)
+    parser.add_argument('-l', '--list', metavar='<tarfile>')
+    parser.add_argument('-e', '--extract', metavar='<tarfile>')
+    parser.add_argument('-c', '--create', nargs='*',
+                        metavar=('<name>', '<files>'))
+    parser.add_argument('-t', '--test', metavar='<tarfile>')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    if args.test:
+        src = args.test
+        if is_tarfile(src):
+            print('{:s} is a tar archive.'.format(src))
+        else:
+            print('{:s} is not a tar archive.'.format(src))
+
+    elif args.list:
+        with TarFile.open(args.list) as tf:
+            tf.list()
+
+    elif args.extract:
+        tarfile_src = args.extract
+        with TarFile.open(tarfile_src) as tf:
+            tf.extractall()
+        print('{:s} file is extracted.'.format(tarfile_src))
+
+    elif args.create:
+        def determine_mode(mode):
+            try:
+                mode = mode.rpartition('.')[2]
+            except AttributeError:
+                return 'w'
+            if mode in ('gz', 'bz2', 'xz'):
+                mode = 'w:' + mode
+            elif mode == 'tgz':
+                mode = 'gz'
+            elif mode in ('tbz', 'tbz2', 'tb2'):
+                mode = 'bz2'
+            elif mode == 'txz':
+                mode = 'xz'
+            else:
+                mode = 'w'
+            return mode
+
+        target_dir = args.create.pop(0)
+        mode = determine_mode(args.create)
+        with TarFile.open(target_dir, mode) as tf:
+            for file_name in args.create:
+                tf.add(file_name)
+        print('{:s} file created.'.format(target_dir))
+
+    else:
+        parser.print_help()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()