Install Python on Ubuntu

Method 1: Install Python using APT

This method is the most straightforward way to install Python on Ubuntu, but it may not always provide the latest version, as it uses the version available in the Ubuntu repositories.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3
 
# check python version
python3 --version

Method 2: Install Python via PPA (Recommended)

What is software-properties-common?

The software-properties-common package provides an abstraction of the used apt repositories. It allows you to manage PPAs easily.

This method allows you to install the latest version of Python using a Personal Package Archive (PPA). This is recommended if you need a more recent version than what is available in the default repositories.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa # press enter to confirm
 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3.13 # replace with the desired version
 
# check python version
python3 --version

Method 3: Install Python from Source

This method is useful if you want to customize the installation or if the version you need is not available in the repositories.

Python 3.13.1 is the latest version at the time of writing. You can check for the latest version on the official Python website.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libgdbm-dev libnss3-dev  libreadline-dev libffi-dev wget
 
# Download the installer file to the /tmp directory
cd /tmp
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.13.1/Python-3.13.1.tgz
tar -xf Python-3.13.1.tgz
 
cd Python-3.13.1
./configure --enable-optimizations
sudo make install
 
# check python version
python3 --version