def read_reqn_file(path_to_file):
    """
    Reads the contents of a file and returns it as a list of lines.

    Parameters
    ----------
    path_to_file : str
        Path to file that is to read in

    Returns
    -------
    list of str
        The file contents as separate strings in a list

    """
    with open(path_to_file) as f:
        lines = f.readlines()
    return lines