Question

As I was playing around for the first time with CoffeeScript, I ran in to a problem. In order to debug my problem, I tried replacing my whole file with one of the example bits of code from the coffee script site:

kids =
  brother:
    name: "Max"
    age:  11
  sister:
    name: "Ida"
    age:  9

However, when I try to compile that code, I get:

Error: In coffee/main.coffee, Parse error on line 3: Unexpected 'INDENT'
    at Object.parseError (/usr/lib/coffeescript/parser.js:501:11)
    at Object.parse (/usr/lib/coffeescript/parser.js:573:32)
    at Object.compile (/usr/lib/coffeescript/coffee-script.js:23:22)
    at /usr/lib/coffeescript/command.js:99:27
    at /usr/lib/coffeescript/command.js:72:28
    at fs:84:13
    at node.js:773:9
In coffee/main.coffee, Parse error on line 3: Unexpected 'INDENT'

Since this is code from the CoffeeScript site, I assume the code itself isn’t the problem. However, the compiler also seems to be working properly; if I compile:

a = 2

it generates a file with:

(function(){
  var a;
  a = 2;
})();

as expected. So in other words, the code is good, the compiler is good, and yet somehow I’m getting this Unexpected ‘IDENT’ error … can anyone help me understand what is going on?

Answer 1

I am pretty sure this is a tabs-vs-spaces issue. Tell your editor not to convert spaces to tabs if it does that. Also, go through your code with the cursor and make sure it doesn’t jump over blank areas.

The issue is that while normal editors see a tab as equivalent to two or four spaces, coffeescript sees it as one space, so the indentation gets messed up.

If this all doesn’t help, make sure you have a recent coffeescript version, e.g. 1.1.0 or newer.