def read_whitelist(whitelist_file):
    """This function reads the white list file and returns the list"""

    # create an empty dictionary to store the white lists
    whitelistdict = {}
    with open(whitelist_file, 'r') as fp:
        for line in fp:
            whitelistdict[line.strip()] = True

    # return the list of whitelist
    return whitelistdict.keys()