diff --git a/scripts/dream.py b/scripts/dream.py
index 8175221cb3..ef7f6f3c56 100755
--- a/scripts/dream.py
+++ b/scripts/dream.py
@@ -64,13 +64,16 @@ def main():
     # gets rid of annoying messages about random seed
     logging.getLogger('pytorch_lightning').setLevel(logging.ERROR)
 
+    # load the infile as a list of lines
     infile = None
-    try:
-        if opt.infile:
-            infile = open(opt.infile, 'r')
-    except FileNotFoundError as e:
-        print(e)
-        exit(-1)
+    if opt.infile:
+        if os.path.isfile(opt.infile):
+            with open(opt.infile, "r") as file:
+                infile = file.read()
+            infile = infile.split("\n")
+        else:
+            print(f"WARNING: '{opt.infile}' not found. Aborting.")
+            sys.exit(-1)  # exit does not work on every os, sys.exit does afaik
 
     # preload the model
     t2i.load_model()
@@ -119,8 +122,6 @@ def main():
         cmd_parser = create_cmd_parser()
         main_loop(t2i, opt.outdir, cmd_parser, log, infile)
         log.close()
-    if infile:
-        infile.close()
 
 
 def main_loop(t2i, outdir, parser, log, infile):
@@ -129,15 +130,19 @@ def main_loop(t2i, outdir, parser, log, infile):
     last_seeds = []
 
     while not done:
-        try:
-            command = infile.readline() if infile else input('dream> ')
-        except EOFError:
-            done = True
-            break
+        if not infile:
+            command = input("dream> ")
+        else:
+            try:
+                # get the next line of the infile
+                command = infile.pop(0)
+            except IndexError:
+                done = True
+                break
 
-        if infile and len(command) == 0:
-            done = True
-            break
+        # skip empty lines
+        if not command.strip():
+            continue
 
         if command.startswith(('#', '//')):
             continue
@@ -152,9 +157,6 @@ def main_loop(t2i, outdir, parser, log, infile):
             print(str(e))
             continue
 
-        if len(elements) == 0:
-            continue
-
         if elements[0] == 'q':
             done = True
             break