solution_042.py

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

bcount = 0
lcount = 0

i = 0

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

for line in inFile:

    if i > 10:          # only process the first 11 lines for testing
        break
    i += 1

    ### ---- strip leading and trailing whitespace
    ##line = line.strip()
    
    # ---- remove trailing '\r\n' characters

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

    # ---- print the first 60 characters in a line
    # ---- print the first field in the line (see catalog description)
    
    print(line[0:60])          
    print(f'Bright Star Number ({line[0:4]})')
    
    ##print(f'line  type={type(line)}  len={len(line)}')

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

    lcount += 1                # count lines

inFile.close()

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