Property loading function in python

propload.py

# Prop file load
# Based off of http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/python_programming/python_ch34s04.html
def load_prop(filename):
    try:
        f = file( filename, 'rU' )
    except:
        print "Error: no such property file %s" % filename
        sys.exit()
    d = dict()
    for propline in f:
        pdef = propline.strip()
        if len(pdef) == 0:
            continue
        if pdef[0] in ( '!', '#' ):
            continue
        punctuation = [ pdef.find(c) for c in ':= ' ] + [ len(pdef) ]
        found = min( [ pos for pos in punctuation if pos != -1 ] )
        name = pdef[:found].rstrip()
        value = pdef[found:].lstrip(":= ").rstrip()
        d[name] = value
    f.close()
    return d