Ignoring comments - Parsing input file

[hunj]

A compact version :-)
# use tuple or list if you like

lines = [line for line in open('text') if not line.startswith('#') and
len(line.strip())]

"Erik Max Francis" <max at alcyone.com> wrote in message
news:3DA7EA0D.9CEBEB4D at alcyone.com...
> Simon Faulkner wrote:
>
> > I am writing a script which reads it's input from a text file
> >
> > What is the easiest way to make it ignore lines that start with # or
> > blank lines?
>
> Something like:
>
> while 1:
>     line = input.readline()
>     if not line:
>         break
>     if line[-1] == '\n':
>         line = line[:-1] # strip newline
>     if line.find('#') >= 0):
>         line = line.split('#', 1)[0] # remove everything
>     if not line:
>         continue # skip blank lines
>
> If your lines are insensitive to whitespace, a line = line.strip() would
> be in order there too.
>
> --
>  Erik Max Francis / max at alcyone.com / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
>  __ San Jose, CA, USA / 37 20 N 121 53 W / &tSftDotIotE
> /  \ When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.
> \__/ Mark Twain
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