If i roll the two pseudocode if statements together then the following IS valid (isn't it?)

if (($ENV{REQUEST_URI} !~ $regex) ||  ($ENV{REQUEST_URI} =~ $regex and
+ $ENV{REQUEST_URI} =~ $regex2)) {}
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I thought it would end up being fairly straightforward, I think my problem was trying to do the whole lot at once rather than bits at a time, and then combine, cheers for that!