I am relatively new to programming, and I built a mobile computer with a Pi at its heart to learn on the go. Ideally, I would use Vim as my IDE for Python 3. However, every attempt at installation results in Python not being recognized by Vim (via vim --version).

My best guess is that I need to compile VIM by hand. I have no idea how to do so, and I haven't found anything online that can help.

My OS is the Raspbian version of Debian.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Please explain like I'm 5.

TLDR: Vim will not recognize Python 3, and I do not know why.

  • Does sudo apt-get install vim-gnome work? Posting as a comment since it's just a guess.
    – DJMcMayhem
    Sep 6 '16 at 5:20

If you are looking for a terminal version of vim which supports python (alongs with Lua, Perl, Ruby, and Tcl) without a GUI. I'd recommend to use the vim-nox package.

You can install it with

sudo apt-get install vim-nox

If you are looking for a GUI version vim-gnome is what you are looking for.

sudo apt-get install vim-gnome

Foot page note

Before using apt-get install you should call apt-get update, this will update the list of packages available. This is off topic for this site but digital ocean has a simple tutorial to get started with apt-get commands and ubuntu.com provides a list of the useful commands.

  • First and foremost, thank you. I want the terminal version. I attempted: sudo apt-get install vim-nox I recieved multiple error messages due to certain IP addresses not being found. Do you have an alternative I could try?
    – rkoehler
    Sep 7 '16 at 2:48
  • Have you tried using apt-get update before installing?
    – statox
    Sep 7 '16 at 5:28

Your Answer

