transition.filter()

transition.filter(filter)

For each selected element, selects only the elements that match the specified filter, and returns a transition on the resulting selection. The filter may be specified either as a selector string or a function. If a function, it is evaluated for each selected element, in order, being passed the current datum d and index i, with the this context as the current DOM element. The new transition has the same id, name and timing as this transition; however, if a transition with the same id already exists on a selected element, the existing transition is returned for that element.

This method is equivalent to deriving the selection for this transition via transition.selection, creating a subselection via selection.filter, and then creating a new transition via selection.transition:

transition
  .selection()
  .filter(filter)
  .transition(transition)