from pyparsing import White, alphas, Word
parser = White(' \t').set_results_name('indent') + Word(alphas).set_results_name('word')
print(parser.parse_string(' test'))
would raise:
pyparsing.exceptions.ParseException: Expected <SP><TAB>, found 'test' (at char 4), (line:1, col:5)
but
from pyparsing import White, alphas, Word
parser = White(' \t') + Word(alphas).set_results_name('word')
print(parser.parse_string(' test'))
would return [' ', 'test']