def getCharacterFrequencies(myFile):

    # defining my variables

    metalist = []
    character: str
    characterFrequency = []

    # read file and add all characters to a list unless they are a new line character or a space

    characterList = [character for character in open(myFile).read() if character != '\n' if character != ' ']

    # go through each character in my list, count their frequency, and add the count to characterList

    for character in characterList:
        characterFrequency.append(characterList.count(character))

    # return my two list variables, characterList and characterFrequency

    return characterList, characterFrequency

    pass