diff --git a/zuul.d/base.yaml b/zuul.d/base.yaml
index 5d0dbe7c2c2..8ffe90f66c1 100644
--- a/zuul.d/base.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/base.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@
       - ^roles/add_mariadb_repo/.*$
       - ^roles/nftables/.*$
       - ^rally-jobs/.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     vars:
       configure_swap_size: 8192
       Q_BUILD_OVS_FROM_GIT: True
@@ -99,7 +100,8 @@
       - ^roles/add_mariadb_repo/.*$
       - ^roles/nftables/.*$
       - ^rally-jobs/.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-fullstack-with-uwsgi
diff --git a/zuul.d/grenade.yaml b/zuul.d/grenade.yaml
index 1dfbf4dbb19..0aa45b1057e 100644
--- a/zuul.d/grenade.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/grenade.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
       - ^vagrant/.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     vars:
       grenade_devstack_localrc:
         shared:
@@ -251,7 +252,8 @@
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
       - ^vagrant/.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     roles:
       - zuul: openstack/neutron-tempest-plugin
     required-projects:
diff --git a/zuul.d/job-templates.yaml b/zuul.d/job-templates.yaml
index 8772d681966..fd9fe7cc8d0 100644
--- a/zuul.d/job-templates.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/job-templates.yaml
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
               - ^playbooks/.*$
               - ^roles/.*$
               - ^rally-jobs/.*$
-              - ^zuul.d/(?!(job-templates)).*\.yaml
+              - regex: ^zuul.d/job-templates.yaml
+                negate: true
         - openstack-tox-py311: # from openstack-python3-jobs template
             timeout: 3600
             irrelevant-files:  *irrelevant-files
diff --git a/zuul.d/project.yaml b/zuul.d/project.yaml
index 4c692623933..4af00ef0acb 100644
--- a/zuul.d/project.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/project.yaml
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@
               - ^neutron/scheduler/.*$
               - ^roles/.*functional.*$
               - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-              - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+              - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+                negate: true
 
     gate:
       jobs:
diff --git a/zuul.d/rally.yaml b/zuul.d/rally.yaml
index 4c603167fa7..4e727008ae7 100644
--- a/zuul.d/rally.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/rally.yaml
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@
       - ^neutron/common/ovn/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovn-rally-task
@@ -125,7 +126,8 @@
       - ^neutron/scheduler/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     vars:
       devstack_plugins:
         neutron: https://opendev.org/openstack/neutron
diff --git a/zuul.d/tempest-multinode.yaml b/zuul.d/tempest-multinode.yaml
index dd0df163476..ed75d02eef9 100644
--- a/zuul.d/tempest-multinode.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/tempest-multinode.yaml
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
       - ^vagrant/.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     vars:
       tox_envlist: integrated-network
       devstack_localrc:
@@ -404,7 +405,8 @@
       - ^neutron/scheduler/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
     roles:
       - zuul: zuul/zuul-jobs
       - zuul: openstack/neutron-tempest-plugin
diff --git a/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml b/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
index daca9c789a4..4f272b37193 100644
--- a/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@
       - ^neutron/common/ovn/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovs-tempest-dvr
@@ -151,7 +152,8 @@
       - ^neutron/common/ovn/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovs-tempest-iptables_hybrid
@@ -260,7 +262,8 @@
       - ^neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovn-tempest-mariadb-full
@@ -347,7 +350,8 @@
       - ^neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/mech_sriov/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovn-tempest-with-neutron-lib-master
@@ -484,7 +488,8 @@
       - ^vagrant/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovn-tempest-with-uwsgi-loki
@@ -626,7 +631,8 @@
       - ^neutron/scheduler/.*$
       - ^roles/.*functional.*$
       - ^playbooks/.*functional.*$
-      - ^zuul.d/(?!(project)).*\.yaml
+      - regex: ^zuul.d/project.*\.yaml
+        negate: true
 
 - job:
     name: neutron-ovn-tempest-ovs-release