leading_or_trailing_whitespaces: GTFS validation rule (archive structure) Warning
A CSV value protected by double quotes carries leading or trailing whitespace. Quoted whitespace risks breaking key/FK matches when the same id appears with and without padding in different files.
What the rule checks
A CSV value protected by double quotes carries leading or trailing whitespace. Quoted whitespace risks breaking key/FK matches when the same id appears with and without padding in different files.
Severity: warning
A warning marks data the specification allows but that looks doubtful, or recommended information that is missing. The GTFS can still be published, but riders may see the effect, so each case deserves a look.
Where it applies
The rule applies to the structure of the GTFS archive: the files it holds, their headers, their encoding and the shape of their rows.
Finding and correcting it
Open the GTFS in GTFS Express. Reading is free, and the validation, by the MobilityData validator and the rules of GTFS Express itself, lists the occurrences of leading_or_trailing_whitespaces with the file and rows involved. The correction is made in a draft, by hand or from a brief, with the licence: the corrected GTFS is validated again before it is delivered, and the change can be undone.
In the MobilityData validator
The MobilityData GTFS validator uses the same code, leading_or_trailing_whitespaces. Its documentation describes each rule: MobilityData validator rules.