#NEWLINE# def buildMatrixFromTables( infiles , column , column_header = 0 , dtype = numpy . float , default = None ) : #NEWLINE# #INDENT# 'build a matrix from a column called *column* in a series of input files.\n\n    If column_value is None, the first column is taken as the name of the row.\n\n    The columns are given by order of the input files.\n\n    returns matrix, row_headers\n    ' #NEWLINE# lists = [ ] #NEWLINE# for infile in infiles : #NEWLINE# #INDENT# data = pandas . read_table ( IOTools . openFile ( infile ) ) #NEWLINE# lists . append ( zip ( list ( data [ column_header ] ) , list ( column_header [ column ] ) ) ) #NEWLINE# #UNINDENT# return buildMatrixFromLists ( lists , dtype = dtype , default = default )