code: def _getMultiFastaOffsets(fasta):
      
      f = open(fasta, 'r')
      i = 0
      j = f.read(1)
      l = []
      while j != '':
          i += 1
          if j == '>':
              i += 1
              while f.read(1) != '\n':
                  i += 1
              l.append(i)
          j = f.read(1)
      f.close()
      return l
docs: Reads in columns of multiple alignment and returns them iteratively