Python error when running script - "IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation"

Question

I'm getting an error when I try to run my script

Error:"IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation"

Code snipet that throws the error:

def update():
    try:
        lines = open("vbvuln.txt", "r").readlines()
    except(IOError): 
         print "[-] Error: Check your phpvuln.txt path and permissions"
         print "[-] Update Failed\n" 
        sys.exit(1)
    try:

This is the actual line that occurs the error:

print "[-] Update Failed\n"

Answer 1

You have an empty try block with nothing underneath it. This is causing the error.

BTW, your sys.exit(1) is off-indent as well. In python, Indentation is important because this is how Python interpreter determines code blocks. So, you have to indent your code properly to get your code running.

Answer 2

Put a space before sys.exit(1) or remove space before print "[-] Error: Check your phpvuln.txt path and permissions" and print "[-] Update Failed\n".

Answer 3

The indentation error happens where you have indented incorrectly. Which is clearly visible by the fact that you have different indentation in the line starting with "sys".

Answer 4

As others have mentioned, you need to make sure that each code block has the exact same indentation.

What they haven't mentioned is that the widely adopted convention is to always use exactly 4 spaces per indentation. In your code, the print statements are indented using 5 spaces (most likely by accident.) So do not add another space to sys.exit(1); remove the spaces from the print statements.

Revised code:

def update():
    try:
        lines = open("vbvuln.txt", "r").readlines()
    except (IOError): 
        print "[-] Error: Check your phpvuln.txt path and permissions"
        print "[-] Update Failed\n" 
        sys.exit(1)

Answer 5

A good way to maintain a standard for your indentations is to use the tab key instead of spacebar.