Dedent

Dedent refers to the act of reducing indentation in a block of code. Indentation is a common practice in many programming languages, particularly Python, to define code blocks and their scope. When you dedent, you are essentially moving the code to the left, out of the current block. This is often done when a loop or conditional statement has finished, and the subsequent code should no longer be considered part of that block.

In Python, indentation is not merely for readability; it is syntactically significant. A dedent signifies the end of a block that was previously indicated by an indent. For example, after the colon in an if statement or a for loop, the subsequent lines are indented. When those lines are no longer part of the if or for loop's logic, they are dedented to the same level as the if or for statement itself. Other languages may use curly braces or keywords like "end" to denote block endings, making explicit dedentation less crucial for syntax, though it remains important for clear code structure and readability. Understanding when and how to dedent is fundamental to writing correct and maintainable code in indentation-sensitive languages.