feat(verify_pdf): add --ascii-dates, the non-folding check for the documented date-range rule (#385) (#498)

* feat(verify_pdf): add --ascii-dates, the non-folding check for the documented date-range rule (#385)

05-cv-templates.md records a real Workday import that dropped a role's
end date because `2016--2024` reaches the text layer as 2016<U+2013>2024,
and tells Step 5d to confirm every entry's years are joined by an ASCII
hyphen. Nothing executed that. The natural probe, --contains "2016-2024",
failed identically for "en-dashed" and "absent" before #458 and passes on
both since, because the fold maps the en-dash back to "-" on purpose.

Add --ascii-dates: scan the raw text layer (never the fold) for a year
joined to any Unicode dash or the minus sign and fail naming each hit
with its line and code point. A year on either side of the dash is
enough (Mar 2016 - Jul 2016, 2016 - Present); a numeric range with no
year is not a date. The dump is still written before the check fails.

Wire it in: Step 5d's extraction command carries the flag and the
"Dates recognizable" item points at it, keeping the bare single-year
half as a read-through; the guide's "add this to the step 5d checks"
paragraph names the command (framework_version 1.4.4 -> 1.4.5); the
upstream-only CI assertion runs it on the stock CV.

Demonstrated on the stock template compiled with lualatex through both
extractors: a \cventry{2016--2024} build fails with U+2013 while
--contains "2016-2024" passes on it; the \cventry{2016-2024} build passes
both; the untouched stock CV passes the CI assertion.

Ten new test_verify_pdf.py cases. Proposed by 9scorp4 in Discussion #385.

* fix(verify_pdf): --ascii-dates only joins a year and a dash across horizontal whitespace

`\s*` between the year and the dash also matched a newline, so a heading
ending in an ASCII date ("Heading 1988-1994\n- note") joined the dash
that merely opened the next line and was reported as a U+2013 range; the
mirror shape ("Six Sigma -\n2016 onwards") did the same. Both are real
text-layer shapes: a dash used as a bullet, a wrapped prose line.

Match horizontal whitespace only ([^\S\n]*). Every existing case still
passes; three fixtures pin the two newline shapes and the same-line
spaced dash that must still be caught.

Found in review by yang2632, with the regex and the fixture.

.claude/commands/apply.md

@@ -298,9 +298,11 @@ An ATS parser reads the PDF's embedded **text layer**, not the rendered page —
 **1. Extract the text layer:**
 
 ```bash
-python tools/verify_pdf.py cv/main_<company>_<role>.pdf --dump-text cv/main_<company>_<role>.txt
+python tools/verify_pdf.py cv/main_<company>_<role>.pdf --ascii-dates --dump-text cv/main_<company>_<role>.txt
 ```
 
+`--ascii-dates` is the date-range check from `05-cv-templates.md` ("Date fields must be ASCII ranges"): it exits 1 if the raw text layer has a year joined to a Unicode dash - the en-dash LaTeX makes from `--`, which a Workday import dropped together with the date - naming each hit and its code point. It reads the raw layer, not the folded comparison `--contains` uses, which is why `--contains "2016-2024"` cannot catch this. The dump is written before the check runs, so a failure still leaves the `.txt`. Fix a hit in the `<CV_EXT>` date argument (a single ASCII hyphen), then re-run 5a-5c and re-extract.
+
 The command prints `extractor: pypdf` or `extractor: pdftotext`. Record that name in the Step 6 report. Read the `.txt` file. If that tool is unavailable, the Poppler fallback is:
 
 ```bash
@@ -312,7 +314,7 @@ cd cv && pdftotext -layout -enc UTF-8 main_<company>_<role>.pdf main_<company>_<
 - [ ] **Text extracted at all**, with no garbage runs: no `(cid:NNN)` markers, no `�` replacement characters, no stretches of missing text that are visible in the PDF
 - [ ] **Email and phone survive as literal text.** Icon fonts extract as glyph names (the stock template's contact line extracts as `MOBILE-ALT [+XX ...] • Envelope [your.email@...]`) — that noise is harmless, but the actual address and digits must be present. A contact detail carried only by an icon or a hyperlink target (like the `LinkedIn` link text) is invisible to an ATS; the email must be printed as text.
 - [ ] **Reading order matches the visual order** — section headings appear in the same sequence as on the page, and lines from different sections are not interleaved. The stock banking template is single-column and safe; custom templates registered via `/add-template` with sidebars or multi-column layouts are where this breaks.
-- [ ] **Dates recognizable** — each role and degree has its years present in the extraction.
+- [ ] **Dates recognizable and ASCII-joined** — each role and degree has its years present in the extraction with a start *and* an end, and `--ascii-dates` above exited 0. A bare single year (`2016`) is the half the flag cannot see: it imports as a start with no end, so read for it.
 
 Failures here are template-level problems: fix them in the `<CV_EXT>` source (e.g. print the email as text rather than icon-only), then re-run 5a–5c and re-extract. If a custom template's layout fundamentally scrambles extraction order, tell the user prominently — they may be trading ATS compatibility for looks.
 

.claude/skills/job-application-assistant/05-cv-templates.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-framework_version: 1.4.4
+framework_version: 1.4.5
 ---
 
 # CV Templates and Tailoring Guide
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ Two independent causes, both easy to avoid:
 
    Where a genuine range exists, use it even when a single year would be factually accurate - a degree written `1995` is true but imports worse than `1992-1995`. Do not invent a start date you do not have; a lone graduation year is fine, just expect it to be typed in by hand.
 
-**Add this to the step 5d checks**: after extracting the text layer, confirm every experience entry shows a start *and* an end separated by an ASCII hyphen. Because the failure is silent and invisible in the PDF, the candidate otherwise discovers it only while filling in the application form.
+**Cause 1 is mechanical in step 5d**: `python tools/verify_pdf.py cv/main_<company>_<role>.pdf --ascii-dates` scans the raw text layer for a year joined to a Unicode dash and exits 1 naming each hit with its code point (`U+2013 in 'Role Title 2016–2024'`). It deliberately reads the raw layer: the fold that lets `--contains "2016-2024"` match what the template renders maps that same en-dash back to `-`, so `--contains` can never see this. A year on either side of the dash is enough, so `Mar 2016 – Jul 2016` and `2016 – Present` are caught too; a numeric range with no year (`EUR 600k–1M`) is left alone. **Cause 2 stays a read-through check**: after extracting the text layer, confirm every experience entry shows a start *and* an end. Because both failures are silent and invisible in the PDF, the candidate otherwise discovers them only while filling in the application form.
 
 ## Page Budget - Hard 2-Page Limit