diff --git a/bin/jsonpointer b/bin/jsonpointer
index 422eb7e..31ac315 100755
--- a/bin/jsonpointer
+++ b/bin/jsonpointer
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ def parse_pointer(args):
         if args.pointer is not None:
             ptr = args.pointer
         else:
-            ptr = args.pointer_file.read().strip()
+            # 2026-10-11: Trim file line endings without changing member names.
+            ptr = args.pointer_file.read().rstrip("\r\n")
 
     elif args.POINTER is not None:
         ptr = args.POINTER
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index a330ab4..bf054ed 100755
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -514,6 +514,17 @@ def test_pointer_file(self):
         self.assertEqual(proc.returncode, 0, proc.stderr)
         self.assertEqual(proc.stdout, self.A_OUT + self.B_OUT)
 
+    # 2026-10-11: A pointer file's trailing spaces are part of its member name.
+    def test_pointer_file_preserves_member_whitespace(self):
+        self._write('space.json', '{"a ": "expected", "a": "wrong"}')
+        for newline in ('', '\n', '\r\n'):
+            with self.subTest(newline=newline):
+                with open(os.path.join(self.dir, 'space.txt'), 'w', newline='') as f:
+                    f.write('/a ' + newline)
+                proc = self._run('-f', 'space.txt', 'space.json')
+                self.assertEqual(proc.returncode, 0, proc.stderr)
+                self.assertEqual(proc.stdout, '"expected"\n')
+
     def test_pointer_file_single_file(self):
         proc = self._run('-f', 'ptr.txt', 'a.json')
         self.assertEqual(proc.returncode, 0, proc.stderr)