* Space before comma in source citation

[rcpettit]

I'm a lumper and I've been rewriting templates. The template is working fine except for an extra space in front of the commas. I read this is an ongoing problem but I don't understand the work around. Here is my templates I'm using:

1940 U.S. Census, {Jurisdiction}<, {Schedule}><, {Civil_Division}><, Enumeration District (ED) {ED}><, page {Page_ID}><, sheet {Sheet_ID}><, household {Household_ID}>; {Person_Of_Interest}; <{Item_Type}|digital images>, <<i>{WebSite}</i>> <({URL} : <{Access_Type}|accessed> {Accessed_Date})><; citing NARA microfilm publication T627><, roll {Roll_Number}>.

and this how it's coming out:

1940 U. S. Census, Lee County, Florida , Population schedule , Bayshore , Enumeration District (ED) 36-4 , sheet 1A , household 5; Charlie O. Pettit; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 August 2024) ; citing NARA microfilm publication T627 , roll 596.

Any help would be appreciated.

[tatewise]

Yes, top level items have special rules that are designed to cope with spacing and special character punctuation such as commas and semi-colons.
See FH Help Source Template Formats under Special-Handling for Top-Level Text where it explains the rules for handling commas, dashes, colons, semi-colons, and full-stops as well as spaces between items.

In general, in your template, simply remove the angle-brackets that surround such characters and a {field}.
e.g. 1940 U.S. Census, {Jurisdiction}, {Schedule}, {Civil_Division}
Each comma and space will be automatically omitted when the following {field} is blank.

The exceptions are where a prefix is conditional on a {field} so move the opening angle-bracket after the comma.
e.g. , <Enumeration District (ED) {ED}>, <page {Page_ID}>, <sheet {Sheet_ID}>, <household {Household_ID}>

There are many examples of that formatting in the supplied Essentials and Advanced templates.

[rcpettit]

Thank you. I see what was throwing me off. I was using the brackets because it was getting a row of commas and thought I needed the brackets to stop that. I made the changes you suggested and looks good. Thank you.