When using  Chrome 70.0.3538.77 to catalog GUI ,     If the form is using  lookup field  do search and pull back the search result  to populate other  fields on form ,   a tab space ( \t)  is being added  after the value are  returning on the form.  It is invisible in GUI  .   But because invisible \t is  part of the field's value there ,   if you read the value of fields on the form  ,  for example  in your PAM process ,  it can cause the issue  because   it looks like the value in the field is string 'abc'  ,  but it is actually 'abc\t'  

It  is an issue caused by Chrome browser's bug in Chrome V70 version , and this Chrome browser bug was recognized  and then addressed by Chrome Development later :

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52901043/chrome-v70-has-issue-with-innertext-in-td-cells 

 

catalog 14.1 , catalog 17.1 

Have your end users update   the Chrome browser on their desktops   to later  or latest version  . 

or 

Have your catalog server updated to catalog 17.2 version  and apply the 17.2  maintenance   patch on top of catalog 17.2 version  .    Although it is a bug with  Chrome  70.0.3538.77 version,  ITSM catalog development made the effort to  trim off those additional & invisible tab ( i.e \t)  which are  added by Chrome browser V70 version's bug  when pulling back the lookup fields result to populate other fields  .   This change is in the maintenance patch on top of catalog 17.2 version ,   and the versions forward . 

Catalog 17.2  is available by the end of March 2019 . Its maintenance patch will be available shortly after it also .