If you’re an Ubuntu user, you may have encountered the “add-apt-repository: command not found” error during an attempt to add a new repository to your system. This error occurs when the add-apt-repository command is not available in your system. Fortunately, this error can be fixed using a few simple steps.

1. Install software-properties-common

The add-apt-repository command is a part of the software-properties-common package. Therefore, the first step is to make sure that this package is installed on your system.

To install software-properties-common, open a terminal window and type the following command:

“`

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

“`

Once the package is installed, you can try running the add-apt-repository command again. If the error persists, proceed to the next step.

2. Install Python-software-properties

In some cases, the “add-apt-repository: command not found” error can also occur due to the absence of the python-software-properties package.

To install python-software-properties, open a terminal window and type the following command:

“`

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

“`

Once the package is installed, try running the add-apt-repository command again. The error should be resolved.

3. Update Your System Path

If the first two methods don’t solve the issue, you can try adding the software path containing the add-apt-repository script to your system path.

Open the terminal and type:

“`

echo $PATH

“`

This command will list the system paths currently used.

Visit `/usr/lib/command-not-found` folder path in the terminal. Here, type `nano` command, followed by `command_not_found` file name.

“`

cd /usr/lib/command-not-found

sudo nano command_not_found

“`

Inside the file, locate the following line of code:

“`python

sys.stderr.write(_(“Can’t find ‘%s’

“`

Add the following line below this code:

“`

os.system(‘echo “+” >>/tmp/local-path’);

os.system(‘echo “export PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin” >>/tmp/local-path’);

“`

This will add a new path to the default system path.

Once done, save the file, and exit.

Now type the command to update your system path:

“`

source /tmp/local-path

“`

Finally, try running the add-apt-repository command again. The error should be resolved.