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11 Best Linux Code Editors

Coding is great fun. You can make useful and great apps for your operating system if you can learn how to do coding. To be a great application developer, you have to know about coding or programming in various applications. There are various types of code editors, text editors, or HTML editors for several operating systems available to make your coding capability easy and quick. At the same time, some of them have worked great across the OS. Many Linux code editors are available to create new software in Linux; those can make you an expert Linux code developer.

IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) or code editors are amazing and great for building new programs or apps with tons of handy features. We are here to list the top 10 best Linux code editors, which come to us with features, auto-complete tags and classes, plugins to have extra capabilities, and even bits and pieces of code without having to type it.

Best Linux Code Editor


Here we are coming up with the best 10 Linux Code Editors with their review and comparison. These 10 are the best and most popular Linux code editors with distinctive features for the Linux system.

1. The Editor Revolutionary: Atom


Atom code editor

In the world of code editors, there are two things that are important above all else: features and flexibility. That’s why Atom is such a great option, especially for those who want an open-source code editor.

It’s highly customizable with themes and packages, it allows for multiple cursors and panes to make coding easier, and its integrated package manager makes it easy to find tools to suit your workflow. In short, it’s a hackable code editor for the 21st century. Let’s take a closer look at what makes Atom so great.

As mentioned before, the two most important things in a code editor are features and flexibility. Atom has both in spades. It’s highly customizable, allowing you to tailor the interface and functionality to suit your needs.

For example, if you’re working on a project that requires frequent collaboration with others, you can install the “teletype” package to make it easy to share your workspace in real-time. Or, if you prefer a dark theme for your code editor, there are plenty of options to choose from. You can even create your own theme if you’re feeling particularly ambitious.

In terms of flexibility, Atom really shines. It supports multiple cursors and panes, so you can work on multiple files at the same time. This is especially useful when you’re trying to track down a bug or match up similar lines of code. And if you need to find a specific file or line of code quickly, the “symbols” feature will come in handy. Simply press CTRL+R (or CMD+R on Mac) and start typing the name of the file or symbol you’re looking for—Atom will automatically jump to its location in the file tree.

If you’re looking for a hackable code editor with plenty of features and flexibility, Atom is definitely worth checking out. It’s open-source, highly customizable, and easy to use— everything you could want in a code editor. So why not give it a try? You might just be surprised by how much you like it.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
wget -qO - https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/gpgkey | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/any/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/atom.list'
sudo apt install atom

2. Brackets: The Code Editor for Everyone


Brackets Code Editor

As a self-proclaimed geek, I was skeptical when my friend first recommended Brackets. I mean, why would I need yet another code editor? I had already tried a few and found them lacking in one way or another. But my friend is a web developer and knows his stuff, so I decided to give Brackets a try. Turns out, he was right—Brackets is an awesomesauce code editor! Let me tell you why.

What makes Brackets so great? Let me count the ways! First of all, it’s packed with features that make coding easier and more fun. For example, there’s an “Extract” feature that lets you quickly generate CSS code from a selected element on a web page—super handy when you’re trying to create a new style sheet from scratch!

You can also use Brackets to preview your work in real-time, which means you don’t have to keep switching between your code editor and web browser (I’m looking at you, Sublime Text!). And if you’re working on a team project, Brackets has built-in support for collaboration tools like Adobe Creative Cloud and GitHub so everyone can stay on the same page.

But the feature that really sold me on Brackets is its “Live Preview” function. This allows you to connect your code editor directly to your web browser and see your changes as you make them—no need to refresh the page manually!

It’s fantastic for debugging and makes developing web applications a breeze. Overall, I highly recommend giving Bracketstry if you’re in the market for a new code editor. It’s helped me be more productive and efficient in my work, and I think it can do the same for you. Happy coding!

There are a lot of great code editors out there, but in my opinion, Brackets is hands-down the best option for most people. It’s packed with features that make coding easier and more fun, plus it has built-in support for collaboration tools like Adobe Creative Cloud and GitHub. And its “Live Preview” function is simply amazing—it allows you to see your changes in real-time as you make them in the code editor. If you’re looking for a new code editor, definitely give Brackets a try—you won’t be disappointed!

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo snap install brackets --classic

3. Sublime Text 3


Sublime Text Editor

Sublime Text 3 for Ubuntu is an amazing text editor for coding, markup, and style. Sublime Text Editor allows for code highlighting and better presentation. It also has a custom regex engine that significantly speeds up file indexing and loading.

The command palette feature of the sublime code editor offers access to frequently used features like sorting, changing the arrangement, and changing the indentation settings. Sublime Text is highly customizable. You can customize everything with simple JSON files such as Menus, Macros, Key Bindings, Snippets, Completions, etc.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo wget -O- https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/sublimehq.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/sublimehq.gpg] https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install sublime-text

How to Remove

sudo apt remove sublime-text
sudo apt autoremove

4. Vim – The Editor for Programmers Who Can’t Remember to Save


Vim Code Editor

When it comes to code editors, there are a lot of options out there. But if you’re looking for an editor that’s free, open source, and packed with features designed specifically for programmers, then you should definitely check out Vim.

Vim is a “modal” code editor, which means that it has different modes for editing, navigation, and other actions. This might sound confusing at first, but it’s actually really helpful once you get the hang of it. Trust me, after using Vim for a while, and you’ll start to wonder how you ever got along without it.

Vim Modes: As I mentioned before, one of the things that makes Vim so great is that it has different modes for different tasks. For example, when you first open Vim, you’re in “normal” mode. In this mode, you can use navigation keys like h/j/k/l (or the arrow keys) to move around the file. You can also use some basic commands like :wq to save and quit (more on this later).

Once you get your cursor where you want it, you can press i to enter “insert” mode. In insert mode, you can actually start typing your code. Once you’re done typing, you can press ESC to go back to normal mode.

There are other modes as well, like “command” mode (used for running shell commands from within Vim), “visual” mode (used for selecting text), and more. But don’t worry about those for now. Just focus on getting comfortable with normal and insert mode, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a Vim master.

Vim Commands: In addition to the modes I just mentioned, Vim also has a ton of great commands that make editing code really easy. For example, let’s say you want to delete the current line of code. In Vim, all you have to do is press dd while in normal mode, and poof! The line is gone.

Or maybe you want to move the current line of code up or down by one spot. No problem! Just press either Shift+j or Shift+k while in normal mode (depending on whether you want to move the line up or down).

And these are just a couple of basic examples—there are literally hundreds of different Vim commands out there because users can create their own custom commands as well. So whether you’re looking for a built-in command or trying to find a plugin that adds new functionality, chances are good that someone has already created something that does exactly what you need.

As a programmer, one of the most important tools in your toolbox is a good code editor. And if you’re looking for an editor that’s free, open source, and packed with features designed specifically for programmers, then look no further than Vim! Trust me, after using Vim for a while, you’ll start to wonder how you ever got along without it.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install vim

How to Remove

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge vim

5. Gedit – Integrated Development Environment


Gedit code editor

Gedit is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), preinstalled as the default code editor for the GNOME desktop environment on Linux. This Linux text editor is created for general purposes and aims at efficiency and simplicity. Gedit came into the light in 2000, the first release, while written in C programming language.

This open source free Text Editor comes with complete support for internationalized text. Gedit offers you the customizable syntax, highlighting several widely used programming languages such as C, C++, HTML, JavaScript, XML, Python, Perl, and other modern languages. Users can also edit the file in a remote place. It provides an option for a Clipboard facility (cut/copy/paste)

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y gedit

6. Bluefish


Bluefish code editor

Bluefish Linux code editor can be a great choice if you are a newbie in the world of Linux web developers. Bluefish is a code editor designed for various operating systems like Linux, Mac OS, Windows, Solaris, and other Linux distros.

This best Linux HTML editor offers some great and advanced features, such as support for integrating external programs, auto-completing tags and classes, auto-indentation, installing additional plug-ins, etc. This editor has a neat, clean, lightweight graphical user interface, which helps beginners start coding on Linux.

Unlike other best code editors, it also supports multiple external programs such as Lint, Web-lint, XML-lint, Javac, and Tidy. One very important feature of this fantastic code editor is auto-recoverer the data after a certain system crashes or shutdown.

How to Install in Ubuntu via PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:klaus-vormweg/bluefish
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bluefish

7. CodeLite


CodeLite

CodeLite is an IDE that is free, open-source, and supports cross-platform. This code editor offers some most used programming languages like C, C++, PHP, and JavaScript. CodeLite is developed keeping in mind the widely used platforms such as Windows, macOS-X, and Linux.

This code editor has some great and useful features like refactoring, source control plugins, code navigation, etc. It supports the RAD (Rapid Application Development) Tool, LLDB Next Generation Debugger, several compilers, shows errors as code glossary, and much more.

How to Install in Ubuntu via PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:eugenesan/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install codelite -y

How to Remove

sudo apt-get remove codelite -y

8. Eclipse – IDE


Eclipse

Eclipse is one of the best open-source, cross-platform Linux code editors in today’s programming world. This widely used IDE offers its users a great GUI with support for drag and drops functionality for the easy and quick composition of UI elements. With source navigation, Eclipse also supports syntax highlighting.

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This app provides several knowledge tools, including Call-graph, Type-hierarchy, Built-in Browser, etc. It supports folding and hyperlink navigation. Users can do a project and edit later on easily. Visual debugging is also possible with this amazing code editor.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install eclipse

9. Code::Blocks – Code Editor


code_blocks

Code::Blocks is a free but highly customizable and extensible cross-platform code editor that offers the most demanded and ideal features. For its consistent UI, it has become one of the most renowned C++ code editors for all the major platforms. This code editor’s most important feature is that it allows users to use various plugins easily, written by Code::Blocks and individual developers.

This editor loads the file fast and smoothly. It supports several compilers, including GCC, C++ 5.5, Clang, Borland, etc. This Linux code editor has many great features, including multi-target projects, workspace support, display of local function symbols, syntax highlighting, custom memory dump, and more.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt update
sudo apt install codeblocks
sudo apt install codeblocks-contrib

10. Geany


Geany

Geany is a great IDE used for the GTK+ toolkit integration to provide an excellent development environment. If you are searching for a Linux code editor that works more like an IDE, Geany could be the perfect one for your system.

This lightweight code editor supports all the major and modern programming languages with fewer dependencies from other combinations. The key features of Geany are a pluggable and configurable user interface, syntax highlighting, line numbering, etc.

While it has a simple UI and plenty of configurable features, the developers had written it in C and C++ programming languages. This editor can do many more tasks, including auto-completion tags, code navigation, code folding, symbol listing, project management, etc.

How to Install in Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install geany

11. Visual Studio Code


Visual Studio Code

Now I am including Visual studio code editor in this top list as an honorable mention. After publishing this piece of content, many users have sent me a request to include this code editor. So the question may come, why I didn’t include this one while publishing the content?

Like many other Linux users, the answer is that I also don’t like Microsoft programs as they don’t support open source application development. But it seems that things have changed this time with Microsoft, and now they support many open source software developments, including this one. So why do I leave something that offers great help for open source developers?

Visual Studio Code is a completely open source code editing software for Linux. And frankly telling, it has lots of amazing and effective features that help both the newbie and advanced developer to create and maintain the project efficiently.

This app is lightweight and good for web development. Mainly it supports auto-completion and useful hints while coding, built-in extension managers, integrated Terminal, debugging tools, and overall offers an easy way to code in a huge number of programming languages.

Final Thought


Choosing the best Linux code editor can be a daunting task. With so many options available, it can be hard to determine which one is right for you. In this article, we’ve outlined our top 11 picks for the best Linux code editors and provided a brief overview of each one. We hope this will help make your decision easier!

Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi Hasan is a passionate enthusiast for technology. He admires all things tech and loves to help others understand the fundamentals of Linux, servers, networking, and computer security in an understandable way without overwhelming beginners. His articles are carefully crafted with this goal in mind - making complex topics more accessible.

15 COMMENTS

  1. I find it very arguable to add VS Code as a free and open-source editor because Microsoft, as was expected, is making it more and more commercial. The fact that it’s now shipped with “Kite”, a paid “companion” for coders, is one thing that rules out VS Code for me. I also don’t like all the PowerShell, WSL/Linux subsystem for Windows stuff that microsoft integrates to VS Code, bloating it for people who have absolutely no interest in those things, whatsoever. VS Codium might be an alternative of a good code editor but, at this point, since it’s the boilerplate for VS Code, it might be shipping with too much unecessary stuff for linux users. I need to confirm that last part.

  2. About Visual Studio Code, and for anti-Microsoft users or Open Source users, I need to say the existence of VSCodium, the Open Source version of VSCode. This includes an unbranded version, without telemetry, branding … with all same features. The bonus: It exists for Raspberry and all ARM, this is a bonus.

  3. Great article! I know it’s 3 years old now, but the terminal install instructions still work just fine. Thanks for going through all the work of putting together such a well structured article. Well done!

  4. Yes, I’ve hardly ever touch __GaNooooU__/emacs, but it surely should make the list.
    Also glaring with it’s absence is __the standard editor__: **ed**(1)
    …which I currently use as my daily.

  5. Thanks for sharing this cool code editor well, I like atom and I wanted to know which theme you have integrated in an atom. Keep doing good work.

  6. You just missed the best, most known to experts and most flexible Editor: Emacs.
    Especially if you use it with the awesome spacemacs distribution, which fuses emacs and vim.
    So this activity looks a bit silly.

      • Nice joke ..
        Too bad more and more people moving from vim to emacs with evil mode support … (spacemacs)
        I’m yet to see emacs users to go to vim ….. From this you an conclude that only thing that is keeping people with vim is its keybinding and not its features …. but I guess we all know saying …. Emacs can do everything Vim can but reverse isn’t true ….

    • Thanks for the comment. Please let me know the exact app with official repositories. I will be updating the content as soon as possible.

  7. “is free but highly customizable”. You have the wrong mindset. “is free and highly customizable” is clearly the superior phrasing. I don’t know why you haven’t included Emacs, but I don’t care a lot since Vim is better

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