To use, visit Special:AbuseFilter/test, and put any valid pattern in the main edit area. Optionally, fill in any of the "Changes by user", "Changes made after", "Changes made before", and "Changes made to page" fields.
You should see a new "Test against past hits" form at the bottom of the page. Put up to 50 filter numbers in the field (or leave it blank to get hits from all filters), and click the "Test" button to its right. Up to 100 hits from the filter(s) will be shown. Each hit will be marked by a symbol, until the check is actually performed, at which point it will be replaced with the old familiar or symbol. This will take a long time, as the MediaWiki software only allows checking one hit per API request.