Hi there
Like mentioned above, the trick is not to make your code shorter, but to make it readable. Usually code that is lengthy but well written is much easier to read than code that is short and confusing.
Somehing that helped me to make my code more readable is
Damian Conway's book
Best Perl Practices
It requires a bit of work, and not all of the tips he gives are the way to go, but overall it can really improve your code quality
Hope this helps
Mister Guy
About half of the world's greatest inventions were invented by single men trying to impress women. The other half were invented by married men looking for an excuse to get out of the house