How to install Sublime Text 3 Code Editor on Debian 10

Sublime Text is a powerful and extensively used text editor that is mostly used by programmers. It is supported on all three major operating systems Linux, Mac, and Windows. Its lightweight and intuitive user interface can adapt to any writing and programming style. It is extremely fast and has a lot of functionalities. These functionalities can also be enhanced by adding new-plugins to it. Moreover, Sublime Text supports several programming languages and has a ton of commands and shortcuts to make workflows faster. You can use its unlicensed free application on the first installation but with the limited functionalities. To avail full functional Sublime Text editor, you will have to purchase its license.

In this article, we will show you how to install the latest version of Sublime Text that is Sublime Text 3 on a Debian 10 OS. To install it on any previous version of Debian, you can follow the same procedure.

Sublime Text Features

Some of the useful features of Sublime Text 3 are:

Goto Anything

When you have a lot of files, using Ctrl + R shortcut will help to list them and make them easier to find.

Multiple Selections

With multiple selection feature, you can make immense changes to the text efficiently.

Split Editing

With split editing feature, you can view multiple panes and each pane can contain multiple tabs.

Cross-Platform

You can use Sublime Text on multiple platforms i.e. Windows, Linux, and Mac. You will need only one license to use Sublime Text, it does not depend on which operating system you use.

Customize Anything

It is highly customizable and you can configure it just the way you want.

Keyboard shortcuts

It consists of a range of useful shortcuts for various functionalities.

Installing Sublime Text 3

Follow the below steps to install Sublime Text 3:

Step 1: Installation of Key

First, you will need to add the security key for the Sublime Text repository on your system. Launch the Terminal application. For that, go to the Activities tab in the top left corner of the desktop. Then in the search bar, type terminal. When the Terminal icon appears, click on it to launch it.

Execute the following command in Terminal to add the security key:

$ wget -qO - https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Download package repository key

Step 2: add Sublime Text repository

Then you will need to add the Sublime Text repository to your package manager. There are two  repositories of Sublime Text available, one is stable, and other is in development version.

I am using here Sublime Text stable repository as it contains fewer bugs and is more secure. Execute the following command in Terminal to install stable repository:

$ echo "deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list

Add sublime text package repository

If you want to test Development version of the Sublime Text, use the following command:

$ echo "deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/dev/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list

Step 3: Update your software resources

Now, you will need to update your package manager with the new Sublime Text repositories. To do so, run the following command in Terminal:

$ sudo apt update

Update package lists

Step 4: Install Sublime Text 3

Now run the following command in the Terminal to install Sublime Text latest version that is Sublime Text 3.

$ apt install sublime-text

Install Sublime Text 3

Wait for a while until the installation of Sublime Text is completed.

Step 5: Launch Sublime Text

When the installation is completed, you can launch the application from the application menu. For that, go to the Activities tab in the top left corner of the desktop. Then in the search bar, type Sublime Text. From the results, click on Sublime Text application to launch it.

Launch Sublime Text

Sublime Text 3 Editor started.

Debian Sublime Text 3

To uninstall Sublime Text editor, simply run the following command in Terminal:

$ sudo apt-get remove sublime-text && sudo apt-get autoremove

That is all there is to it! In this article, we have learned how to install Sublime Text 3 on a Debian 10 OS. It is to be noted that Sublime Text can be evaluated for free but to use its fully functional version, you will have to but its license.