def _read_file(self):
        """
        reads the file and cleans into standard text ready for parsing
        """
        self.raw = []
        with open(self.fname, 'r') as f:
            for line in f:
                #print(line)
                if line.startswith('#'):    
                    pass # comment
                elif line.strip('\n') == '':
                    pass # space
                else:
                    self.raw.append(line.strip('\n'))
reads the file and cleans into standard text ready for parsing