Why am I getting SyntaxError: invalid syntax when I'm running ./smile?

Question

    with open("positive-words.txt") as text_file:
        file = text_file.read()

    for line in file:
        if not file.startswith(';') and not file.startswith(' '):
            self.positives.add(file.rstrip("\n"))
    file.close()

And the error I get:

if not .startswith(';') and not file.startswith(' '):
       ^

Answer 1

Do you mean to be checking if file starts with? or if the line starts with?

You have if not file.startswith ... so you are not checking the individual line.