atom editor indentation error with Python

Question

I am new to atom, so I opened my existing code using atom and modified few lines, then when I tried running the code with python, I get the following error:

IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

I realized that Atom editor does indent my code differently to what I had. refer to the attached picture below showing the different indentation styles. line 1300 is the old indentation and 1301 is the one created by Atom

How can I fix this without modifying my 1000+ line code and so that atom uses the same style of indentation.

Answer 1

You have mixed tabs and spaces in your code. You should use spaces, always.

You can use this plugin to quickly fix your code, and please, use only spaces and 4 spaces for each level of indentation.

Answer 2

I had a similar error while using Atom,I fixed it using below steps.

1. Install notepad++

2. Open the file which has issue(one you have mentioned in question) in notepad++.

3. Go to View > Show Symbol > Show All Characters,this will show up where the tabs and where spaces are available.

4. Go to Edit->Blank Operations->TAB to Space to replace all tabs with spaces.

5. Go to View > Show Symbol > Show All Characters,confirm all tabs are replaced with spaces.

6. Save file and reload page,this will fix this issue.

Answer 3

In the newer versions of Atom, just go to settings > Editor; then scroll down to tab length and change it to 4; then change tab type to soft. This will make the tab key insert 4 spaces instead of a tab character moving forward. You still have to update your previous code using one of the above methods.