Output file formatting/loop problems -- HELP?

[MRAB]

Maggie wrote:
> My code is supposed to enumerate each line of file (1, 2, 3...) and
> write the new version into the output file --
> 
> #!/usr/bin/python
> 
> import os.path
> import csv
> import sys
> 
> #name of output file
> filename = "OUTPUT.txt"
> 
> 
> #open the file
> test = open ("test.txt", "r")
> 
> #read in all the data into a list
> readData = test.readlines()
> 
> count = 0
> 
> FILE = open(filename, "w")
> 
> for item in readData:
> 
Try adding:
      print repr(item)

here to see what the lines actually look like. It might be a problem
with line endings.

>    count = count + 1
>    tmp_string = str(count) + '	' + item
>    print >> FILE, tmp_string
> 
> else:
>    print 'The loop is finito'
> 
> ---
> 
> here is the sample file --
> 
> 23
> 123
> 231
> 1231
> 
> ---
> 
> the output file i get looks like this:
> 
> 1	23
> 123
> 231
> 1231
> 
> --
> 
> my question is why the enumeration starts and stops at first line and
> doesnt go through the entire file --
> 
> (file is saved as .txt, so hypothetically no .rtf formatting that
> would screw up the output should be present)
> 
> thanks for your help