1 files changed, 6 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/numpy/lib/io.py b/numpy/lib/io.py
index 5348866c4..93c955942 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/io.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/io.py
@@ -312,10 +312,10 @@ def loadtxt(fname, dtype=float, comments='#', delimiter=None, converters=None,
 
     """
     user_converters = converters
-    
-    if usecols is not None: 
-        usecols = list(usecols) 
-        
+
+    if usecols is not None:
+        usecols = list(usecols)
+
     if _string_like(fname):
         if fname.endswith('.gz'):
             import gzip
@@ -361,6 +361,8 @@ def loadtxt(fname, dtype=float, comments='#', delimiter=None, converters=None,
     first_vals = None
     while not first_vals:
         first_line = fh.readline()
+        if first_line == '': # EOF reached
+            raise IOError('End-of-file reached before encountering data.')
         first_vals = split_line(first_line)
     N = len(usecols or first_vals)