diff --git a/qiskit/qasm/qasm.py b/qiskit/qasm/qasm.py
index 48c6340e5678..1735cfc7cd5b 100644
--- a/qiskit/qasm/qasm.py
+++ b/qiskit/qasm/qasm.py
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 """
 OPENQASM circuit object.
 """
+import warnings
+
 from .exceptions import QasmError
 from .qasmparser import QasmParser
 
@@ -32,18 +34,29 @@ def __init__(self, filename=None, data=None):
         self._filename = filename
         self._data = data
 
-    def get_filename(self):
+    def return_filename(self):
         """Return the filename."""
         return self._filename
 
     def get_tokens(self):
+        """Deprecated. Use generate_tokens()."""
+        warnings.warn('The method get_tokens() is being replaced by generate_tokens()',
+                      DeprecationWarning, 2)
+        if self._filename:
+            with open(self._filename) as ifile:
+                self._data = ifile.read()
+
+        with QasmParser(self._filename) as qasm_p:
+            return qasm_p.read_tokens()
+
+    def generate_tokens(self):
         """Returns a generator of the tokens."""
         if self._filename:
             with open(self._filename) as ifile:
                 self._data = ifile.read()
 
         with QasmParser(self._filename) as qasm_p:
-            return qasm_p.get_tokens()
+            return qasm_p.read_tokens()
 
     def parse(self):
         """Parse the data."""
diff --git a/qiskit/qasm/qasmparser.py b/qiskit/qasm/qasmparser.py
index 568c6d53534b..0fd46416a1ea 100644
--- a/qiskit/qasm/qasmparser.py
+++ b/qiskit/qasm/qasmparser.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import os
 import shutil
 import tempfile
+import warnings
 
 import ply.yacc as yacc
 import sympy
@@ -1046,7 +1047,22 @@ def find_column(self, input_, token):
         return column
 
     def get_tokens(self):
-        """Returns a generator of the tokens."""
+        """Deprecated. Use read_tokens()."""
+        warnings.warn('The method get_tokens() is being replaced by read_tokens()',
+                      DeprecationWarning, 2)
+        try:
+            while True:
+                token = self.lexer.token()
+
+                if not token:
+                    break
+
+                yield token
+        except QasmError as e:
+            print('Exception tokenizing qasm file:', e.msg)
+
+    def read_tokens(self):
+        """finds and reads the tokens."""
         try:
             while True:
                 token = self.lexer.token()