def read_lines(file_name):
    """
    Read all the lines in a given file
    Shortcut to avoid clumping up of many with-blocks
    Handles the IO exception to return a blank list when no file is present
    """
    lines = []
    try:
        with open(file_name, "r") as f:
            lines = f.readlines()
    except Exception:
        pass
    return lines