6. Unwanted Whitespace

Whitespace is mainly made up of spaces, tabs and return characters.
Extra spaces can sometimes work even if they shouldn’t be there.
Sometimes extra spaces can also cause errors.

6.1. Unwanted whitespace before parentheses

In the if statement below an unwanted space has been placed before the parentheses.
Python’s interpreter ignores the extra whitespace.
However, it’s considered good practice to follow the convention and not include the space before the parentheses.

from microbit import *

if button_a.is_pressed ():
    display.scroll('A')

6.2. Unwanted whitespace in parentheses

In the if statement below, an unwanted space has been placed in the parentheses.
Python’s interpreter ignores the extra whitespace.
However, it’s considered good practice to follow the convention and not include the space in the parentheses.

from microbit import *

if button_a.is_pressed( ):
    display.scroll('A')

6.3. Unwanted whitespace around equals in an argument

In the code below, delay = 200 has a space before the equals sign and after it.
Pressing check will indicate that the space should not be there.
This is not an error. It will still work in the microbit.
delay=200 is the preferred format.
Press the tidy button to remove the extra whitespace.

from microbit import *

while True:
    display.scroll("A", delay = 200)

6.4. Unwanted whitespace before colon

In the code below, while True  : has spaces before the colon.
Pressing check with not reveal an issue.
This is not an error. It will still work on the microbit.
while True: is the preferred format.
Press the tidy button to remove the extra whitespace.

from microbit import *

while True  :
    display.scroll("A", delay=200)

6.5. Unwanted whitespace after keyword

In the code below, while  True: has extra spaces after the ‘while’.
Pressing check with not reveal an issue.
This is not an error. It will still work on the microbit.
while True: is the preferred format.
Press the tidy button to remove the extra whitespace.

from microbit import *

while  True:
    display.scroll("A", delay=200)

6.6. Whitespace missing around equals operator

In the code below, total=2+5 lacks spaces around both the ‘=’ and the “+” operators.
total = 2 + 5 is the preferred format.
Press the tidy button to add the extra whitespace.

from microbit import *

total=2+5
display.scroll(total, delay=200)