There's also a thread in the user forum where another community user shares how they have modified the identifier, here:
Looking at the code linked above, I believe it is the open single quotations, as seen in lines
317 and
322, that are adding the spaces. I would suggest that you try modifying these to see if you can create the outcome that you want. However, some important caveats:
1) We have NOT tested these changes. Please proceed at your own risk.
2) For this reason, we STRONGLY suggest you backup your data before making any changes, and also (ideally) test this on a development instance first. Note that AtoM does maintain a Vagrant development environment that can be used to quickly create a test instance of AtoM on a local laptop or computer. See:
3) After making any changes, you will probably need to restart services, such as PHP-FPM and (if in use) Memcached, as well as clear the application cache and repopulate the search index. See:
4) Additionally, remember that these local changes will be overwritten when you upgrade, and you will need to manually re-apply them. Be sure to document what you do, and remember to do this again next time you upgrade!
Finally, we also have a Wishlist ticket, for a way to make the Reference Code separator settings be more customizable, to cover the whole reference code and not just the separator between description identifiers. See:
This would provide a more permanent way to incorporate flexibility into the application and support many different local, regional, or national requirements for reference code formats. If your institution might be interested in sponsoring this work, please feel free to send an email to
in...@artefactual.com, and our team can prepare an estimate for you.
Cheers,