It may not be idiomatic; or as concise; or as efficient; but there is no reason it cannot be readable.

It's just bigger, more lines of code. More characters in line. More scrolling needed.

this

if ($x && $s =~ /(abc|def)/)
[download]

is more readable than this

if ($x && index($s, "abc") >= 0 || index($s, "def") >= 0)
[download]

It is also a really strange claim. I mean, decently formatted C code is perfectly readable.

Good C code is readable. But good perl code more readable than good C code.

Do you perchance mean "isn't considered readable" by YOU?

Of course. Should I append "IMHO" to every my posting?

And if you are unfamiliar with Perl idioms; it is probably far more readable to you than idiomatic Perl.

And if you are familar only with Assembler idioms, Assembler is more readable than Perl, and even more, than C

without citing the source of authority

cpan grep for index