Visual studio code it's an essential tool when it comes to coding.
Visual studio code supports rpm and debian based distros, but not Arch Linux. Even though you could download the source code and run vscode binary file manually.
This could work on any Linux distro, including Arch Linux, but there's no need to run visual studio code from the source code manually, when we can install Visual studio code using pacman or yay, since visual studio code is available on the AUR repository.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install visual studio code on Arch Linux
Install Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code can be installed on Arch Linux using two different methods, in this tutorial we are going to install Visual studio code, using two different package managers on Arch Linux, pacman and yay.
With pacman
Pacman is a default package manager on Arch Linux, so you don't need to install it on your system. All you have to do is, update your system first, and then Install visual studio code.
1) Update your system
sudo pacman -Suy
2) Install Visual studio code
sudo pacman -S code
With Yay
To install visual studio code using yay, you must have Yay installed on your system. Installing visual studio code with yay, is easy, and is done in the same way as pacman, by using the terminal.
Launch your terminal, and run
yay -S code
Launch Visual Studio Code
Once visual studio code has been installed on your system, you can launch it via two different methods.
The quickest and easiest way to launch visual studio code, is by using the terminal. However, this is not a recommended method to launch visual studio code if you are going to work on your projects, terminal in this case is mostly used to test visual studio code
Launch terminal, and run the following command
code
You can also launch Visual studio code from the applications menu. To find visual studio code open applications menu by clicking to Activities button
Next, click on the search box, and type code in the search box, and the Visual studio icon should come up in the search results as shown in the image below.
Now, to launch visual studio code, simply click to the "Code" icon
And you should see Visual studio code window
Setup and Use Visual Studio Code
When you launch Visual studio for the first time, vscode allows you to customize your vscode installation.
1) Choose Theme
This option allows you to set the theme you prefer, simply click over a theme that you like to set it as your main theme on your vscode. You can also click "See more themes" button to view the whole list of themes.
2) Learn Keyboard shortcuts
If you are new to vscode, make sure to check shortcuts as they can help you a lot when coding. Click the "Open command palette" button, and search the shortcut that you want to know more about.
For example, let's say you wanted to know what the shortcut for creating a file is, then on the search box you need to type create , and it should show you the shortcut as shown in the image below
3) Setup Language support
This option takes you to the extensions section, from where you can install language extensions that can help you with coding, and make it easier to work with different programming languages.
If you code on python, then you'd need the python extension.
4) Import project folder
Now you can import your project folder to your visual studio code. Click the "Pick a folder" and select the project that you'll be working on.
5) Save Customizations
Once you have set your customization settings, click to "Mark done" button to save these customizations.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned how to install and customize Visual studio code on Arch Linux.
