I have a file containing:

name: Sam
placing: 2
quote: I'll win.name: Jamie
placing: 1
quote: Be the best.

and I want to read the file through python and append specific contents into a list. I want my first list to contain:

rank = [['Sam', 2],['Jamie', 1]]

and second list to contain:

quo = ['I'll win','Be the best']

first off, i start reading the file by:

def read_file():filename = open("player.txt","r")playerFile = filenameplayer = []   #first listquo = []   #second listfor line in playerFile:   #going through each line line = line.strip().split(':')  #strip new line print(line) #checking purposeplayer.append(line[1])     #index out of rangeplayer.append(line[2])quo.append(line[3])

I'm getting an index out of range in the first append. I have split by ':' but I can't seem to access it.

When you do line = line.strip().split(':') when line = "name: Sam" you will receive ['name', ' Sam'] so first append should work.

The second one player.append(line[2] will not work.

As zython said in the comments , you need to know the format of the file and each blank line or other changes in the file , can make you script to fail.

You should analyze the file differently: If you can rely on the fact that "name" and "quote" are always existing fields in each player data , you should look for this field names.

for example:

for line in file:
# Run on each line and insert to player list only the lines with "name" in itif ("name" in line):# Line with "name" was found - do what you need with itplayer.append(line.split(":")[1])