You should try inverting that code with guard statements: def frob(someargs): if something <= 2: return # do some processing if th

You should try inverting that code with guard statements: def frob(someargs): if something <= 2: return # do some processing if that != "CONNECT": return if verdict not in blessedsolutions: return print "Happy birthday!" Code Complete 2 suggests this for many types of logic when overly deep nesting bites you.