Better than an array

[oldcity]

Using Linux Mint 18.2 and Python 3.5.2 as before I'm old school basic.
Need help with this array type problem.
tia
oldcity

 #!/usr/bin/python3
 #AT&T      
 #FP&L     
 #WATER       
 #GAS    
 #PLAN-D      
 #AARP      
 #DIAZ     
 #DRUGS     
 #HOUSE       
 #CAR
 #MISC
 lcnt = 0
 with open('COL-HDRS-Sel4', 'r') as catgs:
     for line in catgs:
         lcnt+=1
         dfiles = line.strip(",")
         dcatagory = dfiles.rstrip("\n")
         mcatg[lcnt] = dcatagory





 catg = 5  # catg value to be assigned later
 print ("\n")
 print(mcatg[catg])
 print("bye ")

[micseydel]

What is your question / problem?

[wavic]

You can use enumerate as a counter:

    for lcnt, line in enumerate(catgs, 1) :
        dfiles = line.strip(",")
        dcatagory = dfiles.rstrip("\n")
        mcatg[lcnt] = dcatagory

[oldcity]

As mentioned earlier my lifetime programming language was Basic.
I ran a test of your suggestion and it gives an error message I have
no idea how to deal with.
Any suggestion most helpful.
tia
oldcity

 #!/usr/bin/python3
 dcatagory = ''
 lcnt = 0
 with open('COL-HDRS-Sel4', 'r') as catgs:
     for lcnt, line in enumerate(catgs, 1) :
         dfiles = line.strip(",")
         dcatagory = dfiles.rstrip("\n")
         mcatg[lcnt] = dcatagory





 catg = 5  # catg value to be assigned later
 print ("\n")
 print(mcatg[catg])
 print("bye ")
 

Code produces this error message.

 @oldcity ~/MyPython $ python3 fix-here
 Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "fix-here", line 8, in <module>
     mcatg[lcnt] = dcatagory
 @oldcity ~/MyPython $ 

[ichabod801]

It's a name error. You have not defined mcatg before that point, so you can't index it. If this is meant to be a list, you should define it as mcatg = [], and use append: mcatg.append(dcategory). If it is meant to be a dictionary you would define it as mcatg = {}, but then you don't need to make any other changes to the code.