def uncomment_lines(lines):
    """Uncomment the given list of lines and return them.  The first hash mark
    following any amount of whitespace will be removed on each line."""
    ret = []
    for line in lines:
        ws_prefix, rest, ignore = RE_LINE_SPLITTER_UNCOMMENT.match(line).groups()
        ret.append(ws_prefix + rest)
    return ''.join(ret)