{"id":21227,"date":"2020-08-14T11:50:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T18:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?p=21227"},"modified":"2023-12-01T03:57:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:57:53","slug":"python-indentationerror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/","title":{"rendered":"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 \u201cindentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level\u201d.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Python code<\/a> can be indented with tabs or spaces. It\u2019s up to you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IndentationErrors are common when you copy code snippets from the internet. Every developer has their own preference when it comes to indentation and you\u2019ll often find code snippets do not adhere to your own preferences. Some snippets will indent with spaces.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Example Scenario<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Write a program that finds the factors of a number.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by defining a function<\/a> to calculate the factors of a number:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

def get_factors(number):\n\tfor i in range(1, number + 1):\n\t\tif number % i == 0:\n\t\t\tprint("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This function uses a for loop<\/a> to iterate through every number in the range of 1 and the number we have specified plus 1.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In each iteration, our program checks if there is a remainder after dividing \u201cnumber\u201d by \u201ci\u201d. We do this using the modulo operator<\/a>. If there is not a remainder, \u201ci\u201d is a factor of \u201cnumber\u201d.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a number is a factor of \u201cnumber\u201d, a message is printed to the console.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We to call our function:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
get_factors(32)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This code calculates all the factors of 32. Run our code and see what happens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
  File "test.py", line 4\n\tprint("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))\n                                               \t^\nIndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our code returns an IndentationError.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spaces are the preferred method of indentation in Python<\/a> but you can use tabs if you want.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s revise our code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
def get_factors(number):\n\t\tfor i in range(1, number + 1):\n\t\t\t\tif number % i == 0:\n\t\t\t\t\t\tprint("{} is a factor of {}.".format(i, number))<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
We have replaced all the spaces with tabs. Run our program again:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 is a factor of 32.\n2 is a factor of 32.\n4 is a factor of 32.\n8 is a factor of 32.\n16 is a factor of 32.\n32 is a factor of 32.<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cindentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level\u201d error is raised when you use both spaces and tabs to indent your code.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To solve this error, check to make sure that all your code uses either spaces or tabs in a program. Now you\u2019re ready to resolve this common Python error like a professional software developer<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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 \u201cindentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level\u201d. In this guide, we talk about what this error means and when it is raised.…","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":21228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16578],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-python"},"acf":{"post_sub_title":"","sprint_id":"","query_class":"Python","school_sft":"","parent_sft":"","school_privacy_policy":"","has_review":null,"is_sponser_post":"","is_guest_post":[]},"yoast_head":"\nPython error: unindent does not match any outer indentation level: Solution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Career Karma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/careerkarmaapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1020\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Gallagher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@career_karma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@career_karma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Gallagher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Gallagher\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94\"},\"headline\":\"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\"},\"wordCount\":661,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Python\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\",\"name\":\"Python error: unindent does not match any outer indentation level: Solution\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94\"},\"description\":\"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":1020,\"height\":680},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Python\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Career Karma\",\"description\":\"Latest Coding Bootcamp News & Career Hacks from Industry Insiders\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94\",\"name\":\"James Gallagher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/james-gallagher-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/james-gallagher-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"James Gallagher\"},\"description\":\"James Gallagher is a self-taught programmer and the technical content manager at Career Karma. He has experience in range of programming languages and extensive expertise in Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. James has written hundreds of programming tutorials, and he frequently contributes to publications like Codecademy, Treehouse, Repl.it, Afrotech, and others.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/author\/jamesgallagher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Python error: unindent does not match any outer indentation level: Solution","description":"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution","og_description":"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.","og_url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/","og_site_name":"Career Karma","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/careerkarmaapp","article_published_time":"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1020,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Gallagher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@career_karma","twitter_site":"@career_karma","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Gallagher","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/"},"author":{"name":"James Gallagher","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94"},"headline":"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution","datePublished":"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/"},"wordCount":661,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg","articleSection":["Python"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/","url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/","name":"Python error: unindent does not match any outer indentation level: Solution","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-14T18:50:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-01T11:57:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94"},"description":"On Career Karma, learn about the Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level, how the error works, and how to solve the error.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jackson-schaal-nOtIXZGMaOs-unsplash.jpg","width":1020,"height":680},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-indentationerror\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Python","item":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Python indentationerror: unindent does not match any outer indentation level Solution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/","name":"Career Karma","description":"Latest Coding Bootcamp News & Career Hacks from Industry Insiders","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e79364792443fbff794a144c67ec8e94","name":"James Gallagher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/james-gallagher-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/james-gallagher-150x150.jpg","caption":"James Gallagher"},"description":"James Gallagher is a self-taught programmer and the technical content manager at Career Karma. He has experience in range of programming languages and extensive expertise in Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. James has written hundreds of programming tutorials, and he frequently contributes to publications like Codecademy, Treehouse, Repl.it, Afrotech, and others.","url":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/author\/jamesgallagher\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}