Can I use filter in ng-repeat to filter multiple items for a specific field

Assuming you are using the 1.0.x branch, the relevant part of the source code for the filtering on objects is shown in the footnote below. This shows that the standard filter finds the key to test, and then gets var text = (''+expression[key]).toLowerCase(); from your search criteria before calling search. search then does a text search using (indexOf(text) > -1.

Therefore you can't set one of the items in your search criteria to an expression that requires evaluation in the way that you are trying.

Your only other options are to:

1. use a predicate function as the parameter for the filter (this just needs to return true/false); or
2. to write your own filter (this just needs to return a new array from the original one).

Predicate function

$scope.myFilterTest(item) { return ... true or false test result ...; }

and:

<tr data-ng-repeat="rule in rules | orderBy:sortOrder | filter:myFilterTest">

custom filter

var someApp=angular.module('myApp', []);

someApp.filter('complexFilter', function() {
  return function(input, criteria) {
    var result = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
      if(... multiple tests ...){
        result.push(input[i]);
      }
    }
    return result;
  }
});

And then:

<tr data-ng-repeat="rule in rules | orderBy:sortOrder | complexFilter:filterOrder">

Footnote:

relevant part of src/ng/filter/filter.js

  case "object":
    for (var key in expression) {
      if (key == '$') {
        (function() {
          var text = (''+expression[key]).toLowerCase();
          if (!text) return;
          predicates.push(function(value) {
            return search(value, text);
          });
        })();
      } else {
        (function() {
          var path = key;
          var text = (''+expression[key]).toLowerCase();
          if (!text) return;
          predicates.push(function(value) {
            return search(getter(value, path), text);
          });
        })();
      }
    }
    break;