import os root = "/home/guillaume/share/CorpCDOs/Collaterals" for dealname in os.listdir(root): with open( os.path.join(root, dealname), "r") as fh: # import pdb; pdb.set_trace() header = fh.readline().rstrip().split("\t") if "Underlying Deal" in header: print dealname line = fh.readline().split("\t") if line[0] == "Sum/WAVG": print dealname