in_array w/statement

Hi, I cannot solve this problem,. sorry if this looks confusing,. i have a form and don't want to set the variable if the in_array is true.. the code works, up until i add the last !$buddy in the statement, for some reason it seems to always be true, ... something i'm doing wrong? btw, i cannot add the in_array to the statement because if the $buddylist is empty it will generate errors because of the empty implode. $buddylist = preg_split('/( )+/', trim($userinfo['buddylist']), -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY); if($buddylist) { $buddy = in_array($uname['uid'], array(implode(',', $buddylist))); } if(($uname['uid'] == $ret) || ($uname['uname'] == $recipients2) && ($uname['uid'] != 11) && !$buddy) { $contactoptions = '<option value="'.$uname['uname'].'" selected>'.$uname['uname'].'</option>'; } else if(($uname['uid'] != $bbuserinfo['userid']) && ($uname['uid'] != 11) && !$buddy) { $contactoptions .= '<option value="'.$uname['uname'].'">'.$uname['uname'].'</option>'; }