(python) The need for len

fname = input('Enter fline name: ')
if len(fname) < 1 : fname = 'mbox-short.txt'

fh = open(fname)
count = 0

for line in fh :
    if 'From ' in line :
        mail = line.split()
        print(mail[1])
        count = count + 1
    else : continue

print('There were', count, 'lines in the file with From as the first word')