Extra space in TV usage

I am working (and learning) on creating a variable footer that will be based on the user that is active. I’m right now using static switches via a TV until I figure out how to extend the db with my new data. The footer comes from a file, each account organized into separate folders. so..

I use this TV’s default value to define the folder @FILE accounts/[[*acctDir]]/footer.html This is in my template.

the acctDir TV’s default is:

[[!If?

&subject= [[*account_id]]
&operator=`==`
&operand= `1`
&then= `redding`
&else= `bethel`
]]
​
On the page that is rendered I get this error "Could not retrieve document ’accounts/bethel /footer.html’."

--> Note the space after the insertion of the TV value..

If I just hard code it and remove the space it works fine..

It seems that the TV replacement is adding the extra space. Now what to do?

Should I just create a snippet to remove that space?

I stripped the spaces from the before I use it in my template

@FILE accounts/[[*acctDir:stripString=``]]/header.html

But the file html still is not found. I get this error Could not retrieve document ’accounts/redding/header.html’.

Yet if cut and paste the exact folder/file [ accounts/redding/header.html ] and replace the actual default statement [ @FILE accounts/redding/header.html ]in the TV it works...