docs: def read_cands(filename):
      """Read in the contents of a cands comb file"""
      import sre
      
      lines=file(filename).readlines()
      exps=[]
      cands=[]
      coo=[]
      for line in lines:
          if ( line[0:2]=="##" ) :
              break
          exps.append(line[2:].strip())
  
      for line in lines:
          if ( line[0]=="#" ) :
              continue
          if len(line.strip())==0:
              if len(coo)!=0:
                  cands.append(coo)
              coo=[]
              continue
          vals=line.split()
          cols=['x','y','x_0','y_0','flux','size','max_int','elon']
          values={}
          for j in range(len(cols)):
              col=cols.pop().strip()
              val=vals.pop().strip()
              values[col]=float(val)
          coo.append(values)
      cands.append(coo)
      return {'fileId': exps, 'cands': cands}