"I have a buffering problem, so I'll use 'for' instead of 'while'." I don't see the relation or the logic in that.

If it's an independent question, then not only is it not easier (while (<$list_fh>) vs for (<$list_fh>) are equally easy to type), the for version needlessly uses more memory. for (<$list_fh>) causes the entire file to be read into memory before the loop starts whereas while (<$list_fh>) (short for while (defined($_ = <$list_fh>))) reads one line at a time.

Like this ...

for ( ; my $in = <$fh> ; )
{
  ...
}

#  or ...

for ( ;; )
{
  last if eof $fh;
  my $in = <$fh>;
  ...
}
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... ? The first case is very much like while with the additions of empty initialization & increment statements both of which happened to be covered by the loop end condition. So all you gain is obfuscation with for loop in this case.