fix(rank): keep every --exclude key out of the sweep when the list has spaces (#641)

* fix(rank): keep every --exclude key out of the sweep when the list has spaces

`sweep --exclude "a_b, c_d"` split on bare commas, so " c_d" matched no
entry and every key after the first was swept. On an --all run that
expired a re-scored entry whose fresh deadline apply then re-ranked, so
the report listed it as both expired and shortlisted. Strip each key.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* changelog: place the #641 entry under [Unreleased]

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Mads Lorentzen <madslorentzen_17@hotmail.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -89,6 +89,13 @@ per-file diff commands.
   "Ørsted" raised a `UnicodeDecodeError` traceback and stopped `/rank` at Step 1. It now exits 1 with a
   one-line message naming the file and asking for a CSV UTF-8 save, as `load_state` does for invalid JSON.
 
+- **`rank_state.py sweep --exclude` ignores spaces after the commas** (#641, `tools/rank_state.py`,
+  `tests/test_rank_state.py`) - rank.md asks for the keys scored this run as a comma-separated list, and
+  `"a_b, c_d"` kept every key after the first in the sweep, because `" c_d"` matched no entry. On an
+  `--all` run, a re-scored entry whose stored deadline had passed was written `expired` and reported under
+  "newly expired" by the sweep, then re-ranked by `apply` from its fresh deadline, so the same job appeared
+  as both expired and shortlisted. Keys are now stripped before matching.
+
 ## [1.7.3] - 2026-10-19
 
 ### Added

tests/test_rank_state.py

@@ -259,6 +259,19 @@ class Sweep(RankStateCase):
         self.assertEqual(out["swept"], 1)
         self.assertEqual(self.read_state()["new_past"]["status"], "new")
 
+    def test_excluded_keys_tolerate_spaces_after_commas(self):
+        self.write_state(
+            {
+                "a": entry(status="ranked", deadline="2026-09-01"),
+                "b": entry(status="ranked", deadline="2026-09-01"),
+                "other": entry(status="ranked", deadline="2026-09-01"),
+            }
+        )
+        out = self.run_tool("sweep", "--write", "--exclude", "a, b")
+        self.assertEqual([r["key"] for r in out["newly_expired"]], ["other"])
+        self.assertEqual(out["swept"], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(self.read_state()["b"]["status"], "ranked", "a key scored this run is never swept")
+
     def test_without_write_nothing_is_persisted(self):
         self.write_state({"past": entry(status="ranked", deadline="2026-09-01")})
         out = self.run_tool("sweep")

tools/rank_state.py

@@ -230,7 +230,9 @@ def cmd_candidates(args) -> int:
 def cmd_sweep(args) -> int:
     doc, seen = load_state(args.state)
     today = args.today
-    exclude = {k for k in (args.exclude or "").split(",") if k}
+    # "a_b, c_d" is as natural a comma-separated list as "a_b,c_d"; keys never
+    # carry surrounding whitespace, so a space must not un-exclude a key.
+    exclude = {k.strip() for k in (args.exclude or "").split(",") if k.strip()}
 
     expired, closing, unparseable, checked = [], [], [], 0
     for key, entry in seen.items():