diff --git a/tests/test_dataset.py b/tests/test_dataset.py
index d07b1c72194bf59f00b96785faa3586547abb058..729c3d0c99479afcefc8c9d4ebcda0c28bf2d0b7 100644
--- a/tests/test_dataset.py
+++ b/tests/test_dataset.py
@@ -12,24 +12,24 @@ fns = (wd/'examples').glob('*.ict')
 def compareFiles(fn, strIn, strOut, skiplines=0, nlines=-1): # pragma: no cover
     strOut.seek(0)
     strIn.seek(0)
-    input  = strIn.readlines()
-    output = strOut.readlines()
+    content_in = strIn.readlines()
+    content_out = strOut.readlines()
     strIn.close()
     strOut.close()
 
     if nlines > 0:
-        input  = input[skiplines:(skiplines+nlines)]
-        output = output[skiplines:(skiplines+nlines)]
+        content_in  = content_in[skiplines:(skiplines+nlines)]
+        content_out = content_out[skiplines:(skiplines+nlines)]
     else:
-        input  = input[skiplines:]
-        output = output[skiplines:]
+        content_in  = content_in[skiplines:]
+        content_out = content_out[skiplines:]
 
-    if not len(input) == len(output):
+    if not len(content_in) == len(content_out):
         return False
 
-    for i in range(len(input)):
-        inline  = input[i].strip().replace(" ", "")
-        outline = output[i].strip().replace(" ", "")
+    for inline, outline in zip(content_in, content_out):
+        inline  = inline.strip().replace(" ", "")
+        outline = outline.strip().replace(" ", "")
         if not inline == outline:
             valid_data_line = False
             # maybe this is a data line in which we only have different number formatting?