def search(query): query = query.strip() query = query.lower() filename = '1989_RIOT_GRRRL_MANIFESTO_[EN].txt' path = './manifestos/'+filename file = open(path, 'r') manifesto = file.read() manifesto = manifesto.replace('\n', ' ') manifesto = manifesto.lower() words = manifesto.split(' ') # print(words) if query in words: result = words.count(query) else: result = 0 return result if __name__ == '__main__': query = 'test' result = search(query) print('query:', query) print('result:', result)