file = open('/Users/mastermito/Dev/AdventOfCode/Day1/input.txt', 'r') sum = 0 lines = file.readlines() ranges = lines[0].strip().split(',') for r in ranges: bounds = r.split('-') length = bounds[0].__len__() startPattern = bounds[0][:length//2]; if startPattern == '': startPattern = '1' lower = int(bounds[0]) upper = int(bounds[1]) checkID = 0 while checkID <= upper: checkID = int(startPattern + startPattern) if checkID >= lower and checkID <= upper: sum += checkID startPattern = str(int(startPattern) + 1) print('Sum is: ', sum)