What to do with "Unexpected indent" in python?

Question

How do I rectify the error "unexpected indent" in python?

Answer 1

By using correct indentation. Python is whitespace aware, so you need to follow its indentation guidlines for blocks or you'll get indentation errors.

Answer 2

In Python, the spacing is very important, this gives the structure of your code blocks. This error happens when you mess up your code structure, for example like this :

def test_function() :
   if 5 > 3 :
   print "hello"

You may also have a mix of tabs and spaces in your file.

I suggest you use a python syntax aware editor like PyScripter, or Netbeans

Answer 3

As others have said, Python uses spacing at the start of the line to determine when code blocks start and end. Errors you can get are:

Unexpected indent. This line of code has more spaces at the start than the one before, but the one before is not the start of a subblock (e.g. if/while/for statement). All lines of code in a block must start with exactly the same string of whitespace. For instance:

>>> def a():
...   print "foo"
...     print "bar"
IndentationError: unexpected indent

Unindent does not match any outer indentation level. This line of code has fewer spaces at the start than the one before, but equally it does not match any other block it could be part of. Python cannot decide where it goes. For instance, in the following, is the final print supposed to be part of the if clause, or not?

>>> if user == "Joey":
...     print "Super secret powers enabled!"
...   print "Revealing super secrets"
IndendationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

Expected an indented block. This line of code has the same number of spaces at the start as the one before, but the last line was expected to start a block (e.g. if/while/for statement, function definition).

>>> def foo():
... print "Bar"
IndentationError: expected an indented block

If you want a function that doesn't do anything, use the "no-op" command pass:

>>> def foo():
...     pass

Mixing tabs and spaces is allowed (at least on my version of Python), but Python assumes tabs are 8 characters long, which may not match your editor. Just say "no" to tabs. Most editors allow them to be automatically replaced by spaces.

The best way to avoid these issues is to always use a consistent number of spaces when you indent a subblock, and ideally use a good IDE that solves the problem for you. This will also make your code more readable.

Answer 4

If the indentation looks ok then have a look to see if your editor has a "View Whitespace" option. Enabling this should allow to find where spaces and tabs are mixed.

Answer 5

There is a trick that always worked for me:

If you got and unexpected indent and you see that all the code is perfectly indented, try opening it with another editor and you will see what line of code is not indented.

It happened to me when used vim, gedit or editors like that.

Try to use only 1 editor for your code.

Answer 6

Turn on visible whitespace in whatever editor you are using and turn on replace tabs with spaces.

While you can use tabs with Python mixing tabs and space usually leads to the error you are experiencing. Replacing tabs with 4 spaces is the recommended approach for writing Python code.