Abigail

yes but you can improve those things there is not much you can do to improve the readability of $_.

For non perl programmers it can be new concept so also increases learning curve of maintaining the code

Well, I would make coding standards for good programmers, and from a good programmer, I would assume he/she knows the language. Non-perl programmers shouldn't program Perl. And as a manager, or tech-lead, I wouldn't allow non-Perl programmers to touch Perl code.

Perhaps rule 0 should be: "People who can't program in Perl are not allowed to touch the code".

$_ is one of the most basic things in Perl. If you have problems with the readability of $_, you shouldn't call yourself a Perl programmer.

Abigail