Indentationerror unindent does not match any outer indentation level как исправить

Indenting your code can be a messy business if you try to use both spaces and tabs. In Python, using both methods of indentation results in an error. This error is “indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level”.

In this guide, we talk about what this error means and when it is raised. We walk through an example of this error in action to help you learn how to fix it.

indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

Python code can be indented with tabs or spaces. It’s up to you.

Python only has an objection when you use both spaces and tabs to indent your code. Python requires you use only one method of indentation. This is because the language is statically typed. Statically typed programming languages are sticklers when it comes to syntax. 

Indentation errors are a difficult one to understand because it involves the invisible: mixing spaces and tabs. Depending on the code editor you are using, you may not even be able to see whether spaces or tabs have been used until you delete your indents from your code.

IndentationErrors are common when you copy code snippets from the internet. Every developer has their own preference when it comes to indentation and you’ll often find code snippets do not adhere to your own preferences. Some snippets will indent with spaces.

If a code snippet you copy into your program uses a different type of indentation, you may see an IndentationError in your code. This is because you mix tabs and spaces.

An Example Scenario

Write a program that finds the factors of a number.

Start by defining a function to calculate the factors of a number:

def get_factors(number):
	for i in range(1, number + 1):
		if number % i == 0:
			print("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))

This function uses a for loop to iterate through every number in the range of 1 and the number we have specified plus 1.

In each iteration, our program checks if there is a remainder after dividing “number” by “i”. We do this using the modulo operator. If there is not a remainder, “i” is a factor of “number”.

If a number is a factor of “number”, a message is printed to the console.

We to call our function:

This code calculates all the factors of 32. Run our code and see what happens:

  File "test.py", line 4
	print("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))
                                               	^
IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

Our code returns an IndentationError.

The Solution

We have made a mistake with the styling of our code. We know this because IndentationErrors are raised when there is a problem with how your code is indented.

Take a look at how our code is styled. In Sublime Text, we can see the styles of our code by hovering over each line:

Each line represents a tab. Each dot represents a space. You can see that we have mixed up both spaces and tabs in our code snippet. Python likes consistency in indents and so the interpreter returns an error when we run our code.

If you use a text editor that does not support this behavior, check whether your code uses spaces or tabs by backspacing your indentation. If your code removes a tab when you press the backspace key, that part of your code is using tabs.

Spaces are the preferred method of indentation in Python but you can use tabs if you want.

Let’s revise our code:

def get_factors(number):
		for i in range(1, number + 1):
				if number % i == 0:
						print("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))

We have replaced all the spaces with tabs. Run our program again:

1 is a factor of 32.
2 is a factor of 32.
4 is a factor of 32.
8 is a factor of 32.
16 is a factor of 32.
32 is a factor of 32.

Our code successfully returns a list of all the factors of 32. This shows us that our code was logically accurate all along. It was our indentation that caused the problem.

Conclusion

The “indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level” error is raised when you use both spaces and tabs to indent your code.

To solve this error, check to make sure that all your code uses either spaces or tabs in a program. Now you’re ready to resolve this common Python error like a professional software developer!

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IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

You must have come across this stupid bug at some point of time while coding. Isn’t it frustrating to get an error even if your code is logically correct!
But after you read this article, you will probably never come across this error again. Even if you do, you will be able to rectify it in a flash! So without further delay, let us dive into our discussion on IndentationError in Python.

✨ Indentation in Python

Indentation refers to the spaces at the beginning of a line of code.

In other programming languages like Java, indentation serves the purpose of readability. Even if you do not follow the proper indentation in such languages, it won’t hamper your code’s execution since they use braces {} to represent a block of code.

In Python indentation is an integral feature that represents a block of code and determines the execution of your code. When you skip proper indentation, Python will throw an IndentationError.

Each line of code within a block should have an equal number of whitespaces before them. If a for loop block contains two lines of code, then each line should have four whitespaces (ideally) before them. If one line of code has three whitespaces while the other has four, you will again get an IndentationError.

◈ Example 1

Here’s the code:

Output:

Solution:

To fix the IndentationError: expected an indented block use the same number of whitespaces for each line of code in a given block.

Output:

✍️ Note:

• Generally, you should use four whitespaces for indentation and are preferred over tabs.
• You can ignore indentation in line continuation, but it’s always recommended to indent your code for better readability.
  • For example: if True :print("Welcome To Java2Blog!")

Let’s discuss another example to clarify things further.

◈ Example 2

Consider the following program given below:

Output:

Explanation:

The above error occurred because line 4 , which represents the else block, has an improper indentation. It happened because we mixed TAB and spaces in our code to indent the if-else blocks.

Solution:

Either use TAB or 4 whitespaces (recommended) for both statements (if-else)

✨ Avoid or Fix IndentationError In Code Editors

The primary reason behind IndentationError in Python is the improper use of whitespaces and tabs in your program. In most code editors you can fix the number of whitespace characters/ tabs by setting the indentation levels.

Let us have a look at the settings in various code editors that allow us to auto-indent our code or fix the pre-existing errors :

➥ Sublime Text

1. Click in View.
2. Select Indentation.
3. Select Indentation to tabs.
4. Uncheck the Indent Using Spaces option in the sub-menu above.

➥ Notepad++

Follow the settings given below to view the tabs or whitespaces in Notepad++.

1. Click on View
2. Select Show Symbol
3. Make sure that Show Whitespace and TAB and Show Indent Guide options are checked.

➥ Using an IDE

The advantage of using an IDE like PyCharm is that you do not have to worry about indentations in your code manually. It is taken care of by the IDE itself, as shown in the presentation given below.

✨ Practice Exercise

Let’s test your knowledge with an exercise. Find the error in the following code and rectify it.

Expected Output:

*
**
***
****
*****

Hint: last line in the code looks fishy! 🕵️

Solution:

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and learned how to fix Indentation Errors in Python. Please subscribe and stay tuned for more exciting articles in the future!