Ubuntu · Installing Sublime Test

Note: This was tested on 12.04, but should work for later versions as well.

If you’re just starting with Ubuntu or Linux, you’re probably having issues with installing new software. And that’s normal. And it’s somewhat painful to do in the Terminal for first-timers.

Fortunately, Sublime Text 2 is available in a repository from the web update team (webupd8team), which makes installation much much easier. To add that repository to your local software sources list, run this command from the Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-2

Now you have to update your available software list by running the following command:

sudo apt-get update

Now you have access to Sublime Text in its repository, and you can install it like so:

sudo apt-get install sublime-text

You can run Sublime Text from the Ubuntu menu (just type “Sublime” in the Lens menu). You can also run it from the Terminal using the sublime-text command, which then requires the file name after its call.

So, an example of that:

sublime-text myfile.txt

or, if you need admin privileges:

sudo sublime-text myfile.txt

Later versions

You might be interested in Sublime Text 3 instead. You should be aware that ST3’s command line tool has been renamed to subl (instead of sublime-text).