def read_txt(file_path, comment_str="#"):
    """Txt file reader that ignores comments and
    empty lines
    """
    out = []
    with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        for line in f:
            line = line.partition(comment_str)[0]
            line = line.strip()
            if len(line) > 0:
                out.append(line)
    return out