For a beginner, do you really think that

my $rows = () = $inp =~/(?<=^)\w/msg;
[download]

is non-obfuscated?

I'd rate that as beginner-obfuscated because you use...

• =()=
• (?<=^) in your regexp
• /msg as a regexp modifier

I think these are a bit "in at the deep end" for someone new to Perl.