I had a little fun playing with your program. I don't know if I solved the problem you're having or not. (Mostly because I was having so much fun, I forgot what the problem was while playing around.) The original version had a few quirks, but this one works better on my machine. Please give it a try and let me know what you think...

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use warnings;

use Term::ReadKey;

startListening();

sub startListening {

    ReadMode(4);        # RAW mode (we'll do all the work!)

    my $echofl=1;       # 1=Normal, 0=Password mode
    my $echoPwChar='#'; # Password mode char

    my $word = '';      # Input accumulator
    my $prompt = "> ";

    print $prompt;
    while (1) {

        my $char = ReadKey(0);
        my $ord = ord($char);

        if ($ord == 3) {
            # "\003" (^C) : STOP!
            print "\n^C -- terminated!\n";
            last;
        }
        elsif ($ord == 10 or $ord == 13) {
            # "\n" (^J), "\r" (^M) : Finish line
            enterPressed($word);
            $word = "";
            print $prompt;
        }
        elsif ($ord == 5) {
            # "\005" (^E) : Toggle echo mode
            $echofl = 1-$echofl;
        }
        elsif ($ord==127 or $ord==8) {
            # "\177" (DEL), "\010" (^H) : Kill last char
            print chr(8),' ',chr(8) if length($word)>0;
            chop($word);
        }
        elsif ($ord == 27) {
            # "\033" (Esc) : Clear line
            print chr(8) x length($word)
            .     ' ' x length($word)
            .     "\r"
            .     $prompt;
            $word="";
        }
        else { #if ($ord != 0) {
            # Otherwise add to word & update display
            $word .= $char;
            $char = $echoPwChar if !$echofl;
            print $char;
        }
    }
    ReadMode(0);
}

sub enterPressed {
    my $word = shift;
    print "\n '" . $word . "'\n";
}
[download]

Hey, cool! Fun when code inspire ;)

Anyway, no, didn't solve my problem, but hey, that the ESC empties the line is quite a neat idea!

If you just want a lowlevel line-reading routine, you're probably better off with something like:

print "> ";
while (<STDIN>) {
   chomp;
   print "WORD: $_\n> ";
}
[download]

Have you tried re-insterting the $|=1 line?

updated: fixed some grammar and spelling mistakes

Seems to be working fine in Linux, but not in Windows (as usuall). So typical! What to do now? This way I could do whatever on those special keys. So, yep, bug in windows. Enter key is eaten up in readmode 4.

IO::Prompt might be interesting for you

Runing the example provided by the module:

use IO::Prompt;

use strict;
use warnings;

while( prompt "next: " ) {
    print "You said '$_'\n";
}
[download]

gives: Cannot write to terminal: No such file or directory at ioPromptTests.pl line 2

In windows XP...

Sorry, I forgot to check it under windows as well. But since it uses /dev/tty, it won't run :-(

Best regards,
perl -e "s>>*F>e=>y)\*martinF)stronat)=>print,print v8.8.8.32.11.32"

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use Term::ReadKey;
use Time::HiRes qw( usleep );
use Data::Dumper;
#use IO::Handle;

use strict;
use warnings;

# http://www.perl.com/doc/FAQs/FAQ/oldfaq-html/Q4.31.html
# http://www.rocketaware.com/perl/perlfaq5/How_can_I_read_a_single_cha
+racte.htm

# Works only in linux:
# http://groups.google.com/group/linux.debian.user/browse_thread/threa
+d/eaaedcaae8bc3e9a/8109745493b41a58?lnk=st&q=pgup+perl+readkey&rnum=5
+&hl=sv#8109745493b41a58

# PC 2-byte keycodes = ^@ + the following:

# HEX     KEYS
# ---     ----
# 0F      SHF TAB
# 10-19   ALT QWERTYUIOP
# 1E-26   ALT ASDFGHJKL
# 2C-32   ALT ZXCVBNM
# 3B-44   F1-F10
# 47-49   HOME,UP,PgUp
# 4B      LEFT
# 4D      RIGHT
# 4F-53   END,DOWN,PgDn,Ins,Del
# 54-5D   SHF F1-F10
# 5E-67   CTR F1-F10
# 68-71   ALT F1-F10
# 73-77   CTR LEFT,RIGHT,END,PgDn,HOME
# 78-83   ALT 1234567890-=
# 84      CTR PgUp

$| = 1;
#$|++;
#select(STDOUT);
#$| = 1;



#my $io = new IO::Handle;
#if ($io->fdopen(fileno(STDOUT),"w")) {
#    $io->print("Some text\n");
#}
#autoflush STDOUT 1;


#my $old_ioctl;

#BEGIN {
#    $old_ioctl = ioctl(STDIN,0,0) || -1;     # Gets device info
#    $old_ioctl &= 0xff;
#    ioctl(STDIN,1,$old_ioctl | 32);    # Writes it back, setting bit 
+5
#}

my %key_cmd_map = (
    # escseq       command
    '[A'  => sub { print "Up\n" },      # those escape sequences shoul
+d
    '[B'  => sub { print "Down\n" },    # work in the linux console
    '[C'  => sub { print "Right\n" },
    '[D'  => sub { print "Left\n" },
    '[G'  => sub { print "Center\n" },
    '[5~' => sub { print "PgUp\n" },
    '[6~' => sub { print "PgDn\n" },
    '[1~' => sub { print "Home\n" },
    '[4~' => sub { print "End\n" },


    '[[A' => sub { print "F1\n" },


    '[2~' => sub { print "Insert Key" },        # Insert key
    '[3~' => sub { print "Delete Key" },        # Delete key
);


startListening();

sub startListening {

    # Disable CTRL keys
    ReadMode(4);
    my $word = '';
    my $prompt = "> ";
    my $pos = 0;

    print $prompt;
    while(1){

        my $char;
        while (!defined ($char = ReadKey(-1))){
            usleep 1_100;
        }

        #sysread(STDIN,$char,1);               # Read a single charact
+er

        my $ord = ord($char);

        if ($ord == 0) {

            #ioctl(STDIN,1,$old_ioctl);         # Sets it back to cook
+ed mode.
            #print Dumper($old_ioctl);

            #sysread(STDIN,$char,1);


            #while (!defined ($char = ReadKey(-1))){
            #    sleep 1;
            #    print "#\n";
            #}

            #print "NEW: " . hex(ord($char)) . "\n";

         }

        last if ($ord == 3);

        last if ($ord == 4);

        print $char;
        #print $ord;

        if ($ord == 10 or $ord == 13) {  # "Enter"
            print chr(8) x (length($word) + length($prompt))
            .     ' ' x (length($word) + length($prompt))
            .     "\r"
            ;
            enterPressed($word);
            $word = "";
            print $prompt;
            $pos = 0;
            next;
        }
        elsif ($ord == 127) { # ie "Backspace"
            #chop($word);
            #print chr(8),' ',chr(8);
            #print "BACKSPACE!\n";
            next;
        }
        elsif ($ord == 27) { # "ESC"
            print chr(8) x (length($word) + 1)
            .     ' ' x (length($word) + 1)
            .     "\r"
            .     $prompt;
            $word="";
            $pos = 0;
        }
        elsif ($ord == 8) {

            if ($pos == 0) {
                print " ";
                next;
            }
            --$pos;
            #print "BACKSPACE!\n";
             #print chr(8) . ' ' . chr(8);
             chop($word);
             print " " . chr(8);
             next;
        }

        if($ord >= 32 && $ord < 155) {
            ++$pos;
            $word .= chr($ord);
            #print '*';
        }

    }

    ReadMode(0);
}

sub clearstream {
    while(1) {
        my $char;
        if (defined ($char = ReadKey(-1)) ){}else{return}
    }
    return;
}

sub enterPressed {

    my $word = shift;
    print "WORD: " . $word . "\n";

}
[download]