#!/usr/bin/env python import sys filename = sys.argv[1] data = {} with open(filename, "r") as fileobj: for i, line in enumerate(data): line = line.strip() # remove whitespace from start/end of line if line.startswith('#'): # ignore comment lines continue name, raw_data = line.split(":", 1) # split line at first colon items = raw_data.split(",") # split raw data at commas data[name.strip()] = items for key in data: print(key, data[key])