                  const std::string &skip) {
      facilities::Util::expandEnvVar(&inputFile);
      std::ifstream file(inputFile.c_str());
      lines.clear();
      std::string line;
      while (std::getline(file, line, '\n')) {
         if (line != "" && line != " "             //skip (most) blank lines 
             && line.find_first_of(skip) != 0) {   //and commented lines
            lines.push_back(line);
         }