In plain language
It acts like a gate: matching items pass to later steps, while nonmatching items stop or follow another route.
Example
Only orders with payment status “paid” pass the filter that starts fulfillment.
Related terms
Conditional Logic · Trigger · Workflow
Common misconception
A filter does not repair missing or inconsistent data; it only evaluates the values it receives.
Implementation guidance
Define behavior for blank and malformed values, normalize data before comparison, and record why important items were filtered out.