Day 3, Part 2

#requires an intersections.txt file generated from my code in Day 3, Part 1
#and both wire files from Part 1

#load the inputs into arrays
file1 = open("intersections.txt", "r")
input1 = open("wire1.txt", "r")
input2 = open("wire2.txt", "r")

intersections = file1.read()
wire1 = input1.read()       #reads the file into a variable as one long string
wire2 = input2.read()

intersections = intersections.split("\n")
wire1 = wire1.split(",")    #turns the string into an array of smaller strings
wire2 = wire2.split(",")

file1.close()
input1.close()
input2.close()

shortStep = 100000000000000
shortPos = ""

def move(dir1):     #function for moving the position by one, given an input direction
    if(dir1=="U"):
        pos[1] += 1
    elif(dir1=="D"):
        pos[1] -= 1
    elif(dir1=="L"):
        pos[0] -= 1
    elif(dir1=="R"):
        pos[0] += 1

def toString(array1):       #function to turn the position into a format that can be compared to the intersection
    value = str(array1[0]) + "," + str(array1[1])
    return value

#for each intersection, run the plot for wire1 and keep running total
#until it hits the intersection, then run the same thing for wire2.
for a in intersections:     #for each intersection
    pos = [0,0]
    stepCount = 0

    for b in range(len(wire1)-1):       #for each instruction on wire1

        command = list(wire1[b])
        direction = command[0]      #first character is the direction
        length = ""                 #remaining characters are the length
        for c in range(1,len(command)):
            length += command[c]
        length = int(length)

        for d in range(length):     #move position one at a time and check
            move(direction)
            stepCount += 1

            if(a == toString(pos)):       #once the position is reached,
                pos = [0,0]                         #reset position and run for wire2
                                                    #keep stepCount
                for e in range(len(wire2)-1):
                    command = list(wire2[e])
                    direction = command[0]
                    length = ""
                    for f in range(1,len(command)):
                        length += command[f]
                    length = int(length)

                    for g in range(length):
                        move(direction)
                        stepCount += 1

                        if(a == toString(pos)):
                            print("The intersection " + a + " is " + str(stepCount) + " steps away.")
                            if(stepCount<shortStep):
                                shortStep = stepCount
                                shortPos = a

print("The shortest step distance is " + str(shortStep) + " to intersection " + shortPos)