Python readline() from a string?

In Python 3, you can use io.StringIO:

>>> msg = "Bob Smith\nJane Doe\nJane,\nPlease order more widgets\nThanks,\nBob\n"
>>> msg
'Bob Smith\nJane Doe\nJane,\nPlease order more widgets\nThanks,\nBob\n'
>>>
>>> import io
>>> buf = io.StringIO(msg)
>>> buf.readline()
'Bob Smith\n'
>>> buf.readline()
'Jane Doe\n'
>>> len(buf.read())
44

In Python 2, you can use StringIO (or cStringIO if performance is important):

>>> import StringIO
>>> buf = StringIO.StringIO(msg)
>>> buf.readline()
'Bob Smith\n'
>>> buf.readline()
'Jane Doe\n'