gistfile1.py

# 1. You can access strings just like they were arrays, with []:
s = "testing"
assert s[0] == "t"

#which means that you don't need to split each number like you do in lines 36 and 37

# 2. If you ever find yourself writing out numbers in sequence, you're probably doing something
#    better accomplished with a for loop. Thus, this:
for number in datalist:
    if number[0] == '1':
        number_count[1] += 1
        total_count += 1 
    elif number[0] == '2':
        number_count[2] += 1 
        total_count += 1 
    #...
    elif number[0] == '9':
        number_count[9] += 1  
        total_count += 1 
    else:
        non_number += 1

# Is better written as:
for number in datalist:
    for n in '123456789':
        if number[0] == n:
            number_count[int(n)] += 1
            total_count += 1

non_number = len(datalist) - total_count

Ah, love lines 24-28, amazing way to do it! I was missing 'int(n)' and the inception for loops using '123456789'.

Brilliant, thanks! Pushing changes now. Document falsifiers will be quaking in the shadows of BENFORDS HAMMER.

Glad it was useful, let your hammer rain down blows upon those who would select numbers from an unnatural distribution!