Start IDLE with python 3 on Linux (python 2.7 installed alongside)

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I initially had python 2.7, which often comes bundled with the OS (currently using Linux Mint 12). I wanted to try python 3, so I installed it alongside python 2. All fine there, I can run both versions in terminal by calling either python or python3. However, there seems to be no way to start IDLE with python 3. Is there some flag that I can pass to IDLE when I start it so that I can pick which version of python I would like it to run?

E.g. (these don't work) idle3 or idle --shell=python3 or something like that. Hope you get what I mean. I read about pointing to a different executable in this question about IDLE for Python 3 (on Vista). However, I can't seem to do the analogous thing on Linux.

6 Answers

In the case pf python2 you can Install it by running this command

sudo apt-get install idle

and in the case of python3 you can install it by running this command

sudo apt-get install idle3

This works fine for me

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