diff --git a/src/brulijam/shapebuilder.lua b/src/brulijam/shapebuilder.lua
index b2cfbf6..e71d99a 100644
--- a/src/brulijam/shapebuilder.lua
+++ b/src/brulijam/shapebuilder.lua
@@ -8,6 +8,36 @@ steps = 18
 -- dimensions of the matrix
 length = 6
 
+
+-- see if the file exists
+function file_exists(file)
+  local f = io.open(file, "rb")
+  if f then f:close() end
+  return f ~= nil
+end
+
+-- get all lines from a file, returns an empty 
+-- list/table if the file does not exist
+function lines_from(file)
+  if not file_exists(file) then return {} end
+  local lines = {}
+  for line in io.lines(file) do 
+    lines[#lines + 1] = line
+  end
+  return lines
+end
+
+-- tests the functions above
+local file = 'test.lua'
+local lines = lines_from(file)
+
+-- print all line numbers and their contents
+for k,v in pairs(lines) do
+  print('line[' .. k .. ']', v)
+end
+
+
+
 local shapeFile = basic.readFileAll("/brulijam/shape0.svg")
 
 print(shapeFile)