ok thanks again for this great help. I have another rather ugly if which uses !isin + &&. looks like this;

negcheck {
if ($1 !isin %variable1) && ($1 !isin %variable2) && ($1 !isin %variable3) && ($1 !isin %variable4) && ($1 !isin %variable5) && ($1 !isin %variable6) && ($1 !isin %variable7) && ($1 !isin %variable8) && ($1 !isin %variable9) && ($1 !isin %variable10) {
echo -s yadda yadda
}
}

How do I make that a lovely looking $regex ?