Using netrc when user password is blank

[loial]

I am having issues using the netrc package for users where the password is blank.
It works fine for users with password is not blank and is spacified in the .netrc 

I am not sure if this is an issue with the .netrc file or my use of the .netrc package.

.netrc file looks like :

machine myserver login john password 


Code is


username, ignore, password = netrc.netrc().hosts[hostname]


This fails saying the .netrc is malformed.
 
How should I specify the line in  the .netc when the password is blank? Or is it not possible