How can I look for an instance for certain file extensions, like .(jpg|png|css|js|php), and if there is NOT a match send it to index.php?route=$1.
I would like to be abl
Have you tried reversing the logic? Something like
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule \.(jpg|png|css|js)$ - [L]
This will not do a rewrite for any file with a .jpg, .png, .css, or .js extension. Then add your existing rules so that non-file, non-directory requests get rerouted to index.php.