def parse_individual(arg):
    """
    Try to open arg as a file and return list of each line, otherwise assume it is a comma separated 
    list and use split to return an actual list
    """

    inds=[]
    try:
        file=open(arg, "r")
        inds=file.readlines()
        inds=[i[:-1] for i in inds] # remove newlines
    except IOError:
        inds=arg.split(",")

    return inds