def __parse(self, lines):
        """ Parse a list of lines and create
        an internal property dictionary """

        # Every line in the file must consist of either a comment
        # or a key-value pair. A key-value pair is a line consisting
        # of a key which is a combination of non-white space characters
        # The separator character between key-value pairs is a '=',
        # ':' or a whitespace character not including the newline.
        # If the '=' or ':' characters are found, in the line, even
        # keys containing whitespace chars are allowed.

        # A line with only a key according to the rules above is also
        # fine. In such case, the value is considered as the empty string.
        # In order to include characters '=' or ':' in a key or value,
        # they have to be properly escaped using the backslash character.

        # Some examples of valid key-value pairs:
        #
        # key     value
        # key=value
        # key:value
        # key     value1,value2,value3
        # key     value1,value2,value3 \
        #         value4, value5
        # key
        # This key= this value
        # key = value1 value2 value3
        
        # Any line that starts with a '#' is considerered a comment
        # and skipped. Also any trailing or preceding whitespaces
        # are removed from the key/value.
        
        # This is a line parser. It parses the
        # contents like by line.

        lineno=0
        i = iter(lines)

        for line in i:
            lineno += 1
            line = line.strip()
            # Skip null lines
            if not line: continue
            # Skip lines which are comments
            if line[0] == '#': continue
            # Some flags
            escaped=False
            # Position of first separation char
            sepidx = -1
            # A flag for performing wspace re check
            flag = 0
            # Check for valid space separation
            # First obtain the max index to which we
            # can search.
            m = self.othercharre.search(line)
            if m:
                first, last = m.span()
                start, end = 0, first
                flag = 1
                wspacere = re.compile(r'(?<![\\\=\:])(\s)')        
            else:
                if self.othercharre2.search(line):
                    # Check if either '=' or ':' is present
                    # in the line. If they are then it means
                    # they are preceded by a backslash.
                    
                    # This means, we need to modify the
                    # wspacere a bit, not to look for
                    # : or = characters.
                    wspacere = re.compile(r'(?<![\\])(\s)')        
                start, end = 0, len(line)
                
            m2 = wspacere.search(line, start, end)
            if m2:
                # print 'Space match=>',line
                # Means we need to split by space.
                first, last = m2.span()
                sepidx = first
            elif m:
                # print 'Other match=>',line
                # No matching wspace char found, need
                # to split by either '=' or ':'
                first, last = m.span()
                sepidx = last - 1
                # print line[sepidx]
                
                
            # If the last character is a backslash
            # it has to be preceded by a space in which
            # case the next line is read as part of the
            # same property
            while line[-1] == '\\':
                # Read next line
                nextline = i.next()
                nextline = nextline.strip()
                lineno += 1
                # This line will become part of the value
                line = line[:-1] + nextline

            # Now split to key,value according to separation char
            if sepidx != -1:
                key, value = line[:sepidx], line[sepidx+1:]
            else:
                key,value = line,''

            self.processPair(key, value)
 Parse a list of lines and create
        an internal property dictionary 
recipes/Python/496795_pythreplacement/recipe-496795.py