solution_031a.py

#!/usr/bin/python3
# ===================================================================
# Read star catalog data file - use Python slice strings
# ===================================================================

bcount = 0
lcount = 0

inFile = open('bsc5.dat','r')

for line in inFile:

    # ---- remove trailing '\r\n' characters

    line = line.rstrip('\r\n')

    # ---- print the first 60 charactere of a line
    # ---- print the first field (see catalog description)

    ##print(line[0:60])

    if not line:               # blank line?
        bcouunt += 1           # blank line count

    lcount += 1                # line count

inFile.close()

print(f'{lcount} lines in file')
print(f'{bcount} blank lines read')
print()