f = open("input.txt") txt = f.read() lines = txt.split('\n') nm = lines.split(' ') N = int(nm[0]) M = int(nm[1]) matrix = [[] for x in range(N)] if len(lines) < N+1: print "not enough lines" for x in range(1,N+1): line = lines[x].split(' ') if len(line) < M: print "incorrect format" for y in range(M): matrix[x].append(int(line[y])) for x in range(M): for y in range(N): print(matrix[y][x]) print " " print "\n"