Reading a csv file

csv_read.py

import csv

def read_csv_file_into_array(filename):
  csv_file = open(filename)
  lines = csv.reader(csv_file, delimiter=',')

  data = []
  for row_num, row in enumerate(lines):
    if row_num == 0:
      continue
    if row_num == 1:
      header = row
    else:
      row_dict = {}
      for cell_num, cell in enumerate(row):
          try:
            row_dict[header[cell_num]] = float(cell)
          except ValueError:
             row_dict[header[cell_num]] = cell
      data.append(row_dict)
  return data

data1 = read_csv_file_into_array(<filename1>)
data2 = read_csv_file_into_array(<filename2>)
    
# [
#     {'Wavelength (nm)': 850.0, 'Abs': 0.06241456047, '': ''}, 
#     {'Wavelength (nm)': 849.0, 'Abs': 0.05203075707, '': ''}, 
#     {'Wavelength (nm)': 848.0, 'Abs': 0.06630643457, '': ''}, 
#     ...
# ]


# So now you can access the wavelength of 
# the first row by data[0]['Wavelength (nm)']
# rather than data[0][0]
# it just makes your code a bit easier to read