> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.hiredata.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Filter > The Filter step in a HireData automation: every condition operator, how rows and sets combine, unique constraints, and what a stopped run shows. **Filter** decides whether the run continues. When the conditions pass the run moves to the next step; when they do not, the run stops here. The drawer is headed **Filter** with tabs **Filters** and **Advanced**. ## Settings * **Field**. The **Select field** box. Type to search: "2: Answer" finds "Question 2: Answer". The list holds the event's fields and the outputs of earlier steps. * **Operator**. The **Select** box beside the field. Disabled until a field is chosen. The operators offered depend on the field's type, listed below. * **Value**. A box that appears for operators that compare against something. **is empty** and **is not empty** have none. * **Add Filter**. Adds a row to the same set. * **Add New Set**. Starts a new set below the first. * **AND / OR**. A toggle that appears between two rows, and another that appears between two sets. Default **AND**. Within a set it decides whether every row or any row must pass. Between sets it decides whether every set or any set must pass. * **Unique Constraints**. On the **Advanced** tab. Pick fields, and the Filter passes only once for each combination of their values. With an identifier and a status field selected, a record passes for a given status once, however many events it produces with that status. ### Operators | Field type | Operators | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Text | equals, not equals, is empty, is not empty, contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, does not start with, does not end with | | Number | equals, not equals, is empty, is not empty, greater than, less than, greater than or equal, less than or equal | Fields that hold a range or a set of values also offer **between**, **one of**, and **not one of**. The Filter drawer with two rows in the first set, Question 1: Answer is not empty and Question 2: Answer equals Yes, joined by an AND / OR toggle, then a second toggle and an empty second set ### On the canvas The card shows a **Filter** badge, the set number, and each row as field, operator, value. A Filter card on the canvas reading 1, Question 1: Answer, is not empty ## What it outputs Nothing new. The variables available after a Filter are the same as before it. On the run page a passed Filter carries the line "Completed" with the time. The timeline records "Filter: Run Moved", then "Filter: Completed" with each set marked **Valid** and the value it expected against the value it found. A Filter card in a run reading Meeting: Activity Type one of 2 selected, with the line Completed: Last Friday at 7:42 PM below it A run timeline with Filter: Run Moved, then Filter: Completed showing set 1 as Valid with Expected Meeting: Activity Type with value 1e gesprek, To be one of 2 selected ## What stops the run Conditions that do not pass. The timeline records "Filter: Cancelled" with the message "Filter not passed." followed by "Filter: Run Cancelled". Steps after the Filter show no status line, and in the runs list the run's **Step** column reads "Filter". A run timeline with Run Scheduled, Run Started, Run Moved, then Filter: Cancelled with the message Filter not passed. and Filter: Run Cancelled A Filter inside a Split stops only its own branch. See [Split](/reference/automations/steps/split). Other reasons a run can stop are listed in [Run cancellation reasons](/knowledge-base/run-cancellation-reasons). ## Patterns * **Guard the start.** A Filter as the first step stops runs the start cannot exclude on its own, such as a response with an empty answer to the question that matters. * **Check again after a wait.** A Delay then a Filter confirms the record still qualifies once the wait is over. A candidate placed in the meantime never gets the follow-up. * **Fire once per status.** A unique constraint on the record's id and its status field lets a status change through once, even when the app sends the same update more than once. * **Choose Split for two outcomes.** A Filter ends the run on a no. When both yes and no need steps, use a [Split](/reference/automations/steps/split) with a Filter branch for each. ## Common mistakes * **Saving a row without an operator.** The drawer saves it and the canvas shows the raw key `enums.conditions.undefined` in place of the operator. Open the Filter again and pick one. * **Searching by number alone.** "Question 2" also matches "Question 12". Type part of the question's title as well. * **Expecting a skipped step.** A Filter that does not pass cancels the run, it does not skip to the next step. * **Mixing AND and OR without sets.** Rows in one set share one toggle. To combine "A and B" with "C", put A and B in one set, C in another, and set the toggle between the sets to **OR**. ## Related * [Split](/reference/automations/steps/split) runs a Filter per branch instead of stopping the run. * [Setup](/reference/automations/steps/setup) holds the start filter, which decides whether a run begins at all. * [Run cancellation reasons](/knowledge-base/run-cancellation-reasons) explains where to read the message a stopped run leaves. ## Related topics - [Data sources](/reference/forms/data-sources.md) - [Create a WhatsApp automation in HireData](/apps/messaging/whatsapp/create-a-whatsapp-automation-in-hiredata.md) - [Create a Recruitee automation in HireData](/apps/recruitee/create-a-recruitee-automation-in-hiredata.md) - [Task history](/pages/task-history.md) - [Create a Vincere automation in HireData](/apps/vincere/create-a-vincere-automation-in-hiredata.md)