find all spaces, newlines and tabs in a python file -

def count_spaces(filename):      input_file = open(filename,'r')      file_contents = input_file.read()      space = 0      tabs = 0      newline = 0      line in file_contents == " ":          space +=1          return space     line in file_contents == '\t':          tabs += 1          return tabs      line in file_contents == '\n':          newline += 1         return newline      input_file.close() 

i'm trying write function takes filename parameter , returns total number of spaces, newlines , tab characters in file. want try use basic loop , if statement i'm struggling @ moment :/ great thanks.

c=counter(open(afile).read()) c[' ']