def get_data(f): f.readline() line = f.readline() while line.startswith('#'): line = f.readline() data = [] # now, process the data line = f.readline() while line != '': data.append(int(line.strip())) line = f.readline() return data def main(): f = open("hopedale.txt",'r') print(get_data(f)) f.close() main()