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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:
 def index(self):
 """ Loads the chat interface template when Django isn't being used, manually dealing with the Django template bits. """

        root_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
        template_dir = os.path.join(root_dir, "templates", "gnotty")
        with open(os.path.join(template_dir, "base.html"), "r") as f:
            base = f.read()
        with open(os.path.join(template_dir, "chat.html"), "r") as f:
            base = base.replace("{% block content %}", f.read())
        replace = {
            "{% block content %}": "",
            "{% block extrahead %}": "",
            "{% endblock %}": "",
            "{% load gnotty_tags %}": "",
            "{% extends \"gnotty/base.html\" %}": "",
            "{% url gnotty_chat %}": "/",
            "{% gnotty_nav %}": "",
            "{% templatetag openvariable %}": "{{",
            "{% templatetag closevariable %}": "}}",
        }
        for k, v in replace.items():
            base = base.replace(k, v)
        for k, v in settings.items():
            base = base.replace("{{ %s }}" % k, unicode(v or ""))
        return base