Checking for characters in a .txt file. instead of numbers ? [need help]

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

Hey everyone,

I have a question. Basically I know how to read a .txt file for numbers and i know how to add a lets say a block in the position of a ‘1’ and nothing in the position of ‘0’ EXAMPLE BELOW.
1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1

My problem is, i don’t really want to read numbers all the time. i want to be able to make maps using symbols such as ‘#’.EXAMPLE BELOW

# # #

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0

# # #

Does anyone know how to do this ?

Thanks