diff --git a/src/collection.cpp b/src/collection.cpp
index bac865ad..c55bee7d 100644
--- a/src/collection.cpp
+++ b/src/collection.cpp
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ Option<nlohmann::json> Collection::update_matching_filter(const std::string& fil
     }
 
     const auto& dirty_values = parse_dirty_values_option(req_dirty_values);
-    size_t docs_updated_count;
+    size_t docs_updated_count = 0;
     nlohmann::json update_document, dummy;
 
     try {
diff --git a/src/string_utils.cpp b/src/string_utils.cpp
index b2caf445..04711402 100644
--- a/src/string_utils.cpp
+++ b/src/string_utils.cpp
@@ -464,7 +464,11 @@ Option<bool> StringUtils::split_include_fields(const std::string& include_fields
 
         if (range_pos == std::string::npos && comma_pos == std::string::npos) {
             if (start < size - 1) {
-                tokens.push_back(include_fields.substr(start, size - start));
+                include_field = include_fields.substr(start, size - start);
+                include_field = trim(include_field);
+                if (!include_field.empty()) {
+                    tokens.push_back(include_field);
+                }
             }
             break;
         } else if (range_pos < comma_pos) {
diff --git a/test/string_utils_test.cpp b/test/string_utils_test.cpp
index 8fa60a92..75700c8a 100644
--- a/test/string_utils_test.cpp
+++ b/test/string_utils_test.cpp
@@ -391,7 +391,32 @@ TEST(StringUtilsTest, TokenizeFilterQuery) {
     tokenList = {"(", "(", "age:<5", "||", "age:>10", ")", "&&", "location:(48.906,2.343,5mi)", ")", "||", "tags:AT&T"};
     tokenizeTestHelper(filter_query, tokenList);
 
-    filter_query = "((age: <5 || age: >10) && category:= [shoes]) && $Customers(customer_id:=customer_a && (product_price:>100 && product_price:<200))";
-    tokenList = {"(", "(", "age: <5", "||", "age: >10", ")", "&&", "category:= [shoes]", ")", "&&", "$Customers(customer_id:=customer_a && (product_price:>100 && product_price:<200))"};
+    filter_query = "((age: <5 || age: >10) && category:= [shoes]) &&"
+                   " $Customers(customer_id:=customer_a && (product_price:>100 && product_price:<200))";
+    tokenList = {"(", "(", "age: <5", "||", "age: >10", ")", "&&", "category:= [shoes]", ")", "&&",
+                 "$Customers(customer_id:=customer_a && (product_price:>100 && product_price:<200))"};
     tokenizeTestHelper(filter_query, tokenList);
 }
+
+void splitIncludeTestHelper(const std::string& include_fields, const std::vector<std::string>& expected) {
+    std::vector<std::string> output;
+    auto tokenize_op = StringUtils::split_include_fields(include_fields, output);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(tokenize_op.ok());
+    ASSERT_EQ(expected.size(), output.size());
+    for (auto i = 0; i < output.size(); i++) {
+        ASSERT_EQ(expected[i], output[i]);
+    }
+}
+
+TEST(StringUtilsTest, SplitIncludeFields) {
+    std::string include_fields;
+    std::vector<std::string> tokens;
+
+    include_fields = "id, title, count";
+    tokens = {"id", "title", "count"};
+    splitIncludeTestHelper(include_fields, tokens);
+
+    include_fields = "id, $Collection(title, pref*), count";
+    tokens = {"id", "$Collection(title, pref*)", "count"};
+    splitIncludeTestHelper(include_fields, tokens);
+}
\ No newline at end of file