beginner's python help

[Maggie]

On Sep 6, 3:58 am, Chris Rebert <c... at rebertia.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 12:54 AM, hrishy<hris... at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hi
>
> > sum = 0
> >  for item in readData:
> >     try:
> >         sum += int(item)
> >     except ValueError:
> >         print "Oops!  That was no valid number. Instead it was:", item
>
> > So you mean to say this would ignore the bad data and continue processing ?
>
> Yes. A new "try" happens every loop iteration since the "try" is
> within the loop body.
>
> Cheers,
> Chris
> --http://blog.rebertia.com

Wow, thanks for your suggestions, Chris. Exceptions are really
useful..
when i try running the script now I get a whole bunch of errors like
this one --

[jodorowskys-macbook-pro:~/desktop/formisano_replication] Jodorowsky%
python test1.py
That was not a valid number. Instead it was: {\rtf1\ansi
\ansicpg1252\cocoartf949\cocoasubrtf540

That was not a valid number. Instead it was: {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss
\fcharset0 Helvetica;}

That was not a valid number. Instead it was: {\colortbl;
\red255\green255\blue255;}

That was not a valid number. Instead it was:
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0

That was not a valid number. Instead it was: \pard
\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040\tx5760\tx6480\tx7200\tx7920\tx8640\ql
\qnatural\pardirnatural

That was not a valid number. Instead it was: \f0\fs24 \cf0 32 123 231
432 12}

-------------

why is it reading in all of the above? and how do I fix it and avoid
it in the future?

thanks so much for your help, I am learning with every post -- very
exciting :)