1 files changed, 59 insertions, 29 deletions

diff --git a/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs b/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
index 84168291a..dfe46ef8f 100644
--- a/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
+++ b/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
     public QueryResult<BaseItemDto> GetItems(InternalItemsQuery filter)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(filter);
-        if (!filter.EnableTotalRecordCount || (!filter.Limit.HasValue && (filter.StartIndex ?? 0) == 0))
+        if (!filter.EnableTotalRecordCount || ((filter.Limit ?? 0) == 0 && (filter.StartIndex ?? 0) == 0))
         {
             var returnList = GetItemList(filter);
             return new QueryResult<BaseItemDto>(
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
             .OrderByDescending(g => g.MaxDateCreated)
             .Select(g => g);
 
-        if (filter.Limit.HasValue)
+        if (filter.Limit.HasValue && filter.Limit.Value > 0)
         {
             subqueryGrouped = subqueryGrouped.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
         }
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
             .OrderByDescending(g => g.LastPlayedDate)
             .Select(g => g.Key!);
 
-        if (filter.Limit.HasValue)
+        if (filter.Limit.HasValue && filter.Limit.Value > 0)
         {
             query = query.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
         }
@@ -425,19 +425,14 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
 
     private IQueryable<BaseItemEntity> ApplyQueryPaging(IQueryable<BaseItemEntity> dbQuery, InternalItemsQuery filter)
     {
-        if (filter.Limit.HasValue || filter.StartIndex.HasValue)
+        if (filter.StartIndex.HasValue && filter.StartIndex.Value > 0)
         {
-            var offset = filter.StartIndex ?? 0;
-
-            if (offset > 0)
-            {
-                dbQuery = dbQuery.Skip(offset);
-            }
+            dbQuery = dbQuery.Skip(filter.StartIndex.Value);
+        }
 
-            if (filter.Limit.HasValue)
-            {
-                dbQuery = dbQuery.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
-            }
+        if (filter.Limit.HasValue && filter.Limit.Value > 0)
+        {
+            dbQuery = dbQuery.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
         }
 
         return dbQuery;
@@ -1190,7 +1185,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(filter);
 
-        if (!filter.Limit.HasValue)
+        if (!(filter.Limit.HasValue && filter.Limit.Value > 0))
         {
             filter.EnableTotalRecordCount = false;
         }
@@ -1269,19 +1264,14 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
             result.TotalRecordCount = query.Count();
         }
 
-        if (filter.Limit.HasValue || filter.StartIndex.HasValue)
+        if (filter.StartIndex.HasValue && filter.StartIndex.Value > 0)
         {
-            var offset = filter.StartIndex ?? 0;
-
-            if (offset > 0)
-            {
-                query = query.Skip(offset);
-            }
+            query = query.Skip(filter.StartIndex.Value);
+        }
 
-            if (filter.Limit.HasValue)
-            {
-                query = query.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
-            }
+        if (filter.Limit.HasValue && filter.Limit.Value > 0)
+        {
+            query = query.Take(filter.Limit.Value);
         }
 
         IQueryable<BaseItemEntity>? itemCountQuery = null;
@@ -1362,7 +1352,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
 
     private static void PrepareFilterQuery(InternalItemsQuery query)
     {
-        if (query.Limit.HasValue && query.EnableGroupByMetadataKey)
+        if (query.Limit.HasValue && query.Limit.Value > 0 && query.EnableGroupByMetadataKey)
         {
             query.Limit = query.Limit.Value + 4;
         }
@@ -1373,14 +1363,54 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
         }
     }
 
-    private string GetCleanValue(string value)
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Gets the clean value for search and sorting purposes.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="value">The value to clean.</param>
+    /// <returns>The cleaned value.</returns>
+    public static string GetCleanValue(string value)
     {
         if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value))
         {
             return value;
         }
 
-        return value.RemoveDiacritics().ToLowerInvariant();
+        var noDiacritics = value.RemoveDiacritics();
+
+        // Build a string where any punctuation or symbol is treated as a separator (space).
+        var sb = new StringBuilder(noDiacritics.Length);
+        var previousWasSpace = false;
+        foreach (var ch in noDiacritics)
+        {
+            char outCh;
+            if (char.IsLetterOrDigit(ch) || char.IsWhiteSpace(ch))
+            {
+                outCh = ch;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                outCh = ' ';
+            }
+
+            // normalize any whitespace character to a single ASCII space.
+            if (char.IsWhiteSpace(outCh))
+            {
+                if (!previousWasSpace)
+                {
+                    sb.Append(' ');
+                    previousWasSpace = true;
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                sb.Append(outCh);
+                previousWasSpace = false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // trim leading/trailing spaces that may have been added.
+        var collapsed = sb.ToString().Trim();
+        return collapsed.ToLowerInvariant();
     }
 
     private List<(ItemValueType MagicNumber, string Value)> GetItemValuesToSave(BaseItemDto item, List<string> inheritedTags)