Often the first line of a file tells how to read or interpret the other lines. Depending on the result, you then have to ... - skip the first line, or - treat the first line in another special way, or - treat the first line in the same way as the other lines.
I can handle this by opening the file twice, the first time for reading the first line only. I suppose there exists a more elegant solution. Below is the structure of what I do now. Please comment. f = open(file_name,"r") # eerste opening file_line = f.readline() special = True if some_condition else False f.close() f = open(file_name,"r") # tweede opening if not special: # use first line, read previously stripped_line = file_line.strip() else: # skip first file_line, or treat in another special way: f.next() # read other lines: for file_line in f: stripped_line = file_line.strip() # now do something with stripped_line f.close() egbert -- Egbert Bouwman Keizersgracht 197-II 1016 DS Amsterdam Tel 0(031)20 6257991 -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list