title: .readlines() list in a file not indexing values
body: <p>I have a txt file with content in the form of lists like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[1,2,3,4]
  [5,6,7,8]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've put these lists into a list using the following code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>t = open('filename.txt', 'r+w')
  contents = t.readlines()
  
  alist = []
  
  for i in contents:
      alist.append(i)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I run</p>
  
  <pre><code>alist[0]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get</p>
  
  <pre><code>[1,2,3,4]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but when I run</p>
  
  <pre><code>for a in alist:
      print a[0]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get</p>
  
  <pre><code>[
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>instead of the fist value in the list.</p>