How to install PyCharm on Ubuntu 20.04 Linux Desktop

PyCharm is a graphical IDE (integrated development environment) that can be installed on Ubuntu Desktop. Many Python programmers enjoy using PyCharm because it can be used to analyze code, debug programs, and is integrated with Git and other version control systems, as well as web development applications. PyCharm is developed by JetBrains. It is free and open source, or at least the community edition is.

PyCharm features intelligent autocompletion to help you boost your programming productivity. It also has PEP8 checks, testing assistance, smart refactorings, and a host of inspections, all to help you increase your Python quality.

In this tutorial, you will see how to install PyCharm on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux. Follow along with the steps below if you’d like to try PyCharm on Ubuntu for your Python programming needs.

In this tutorial you will learn:

How to install PyCharm on Ubuntu from command line
How to install PyCharm on Ubuntu using graphical user interface

PyCharm on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

Software Requirements and Conventions Used

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions
Category	Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System	Installed Ubuntu 20.04 or upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa
Software	PyCharm
Other	Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the `sudo` command.
Conventions	# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of `sudo` command $ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Install PyCharm on Ubuntu 20.04 step by step instructions

Install PyCharm Ubuntu from command line

Start by opening a terminal window and execution of the bellow apt command. Select your preferred version to install:
```
$ sudo snap install pycharm-community --classic
OR
$ sudo snap install pycharm-professional --classic
OR
$ sudo snap install pycharm-educational --classic
```
DID YOU KNOW?
Snap will keep your Pycharm IDE installation up to date automatically. However, PyCharm can also be installed via direct download in case you wish to avoid Snap package manager.

All done.

You can start the PyCharm using the below command:

$ pycharm-community
OR
$ pycharm-professional
OR
$ pycharm-educational

Install PyCharm using graphical user interface

Use top left Activities menu to open the Software application.
Open software application
Search for pycharm application. Select your preferred PyCharm version to install.
Search for pycharm
To install PyCharm Ubuntu, press the Install button.
installation PyCharm
Enter your username and password. Your user needs to belong to sudo administrative group.
Enter your username and password
Start the PyCharm application. Follow the wizard to perform the initial settings.
Start the PyCharm application
At this point you should be ready to start a new project or import your existing project.
start a new project or import your existing project

Troubleshooting

In case you receive the following error message during the PyCharm loading:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'distutils.core'

you may fix this issue by installation of the python3-distutils package using the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install python3-distutils

Closing Thoughts

In this tutorial, we saw how to install PyCharm on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa Linux. Using the Snap package manager to install the PyCharm IDE means that the program will stay up to date automatically. Hopefully you find this free software to be a suitable environment for your Python coding.