use Data::Dumper;
$Data::Dumper::Useqq = 1;

FF: binmode ARGV;
while(<>)
{ print Dumper($_) }
continue
{ if(eof)
   { close ARGV; goto FF; }
}
__END__
this is ctrl-Z:^Z    # note: real ctrl-Z there
this is past ctrl-z
[download]

produces this output when run on itself under NT (line endings are \r\n):

/ned $ perl binmode.pl binmode.pl
$VAR1 = "use Data::Dumper;\n";
$VAR1 = "\$Data::Dumper::Useqq = 1;\n";
$VAR1 = "\n";
$VAR1 = "FF: binmode ARGV;\n";
$VAR1 = "while(<>)\n";
$VAR1 = "{ print Dumper(\$_) }\n";
$VAR1 = "continue\n";
$VAR1 = "{ if(eof)\n";
$VAR1 = "   { close ARGV; goto FF; }\n";
$VAR1 = "}\n";
$VAR1 = "__END__\n";
$VAR1 = "this is ctrl-Z:";
[download]

It does indeed work, its your shell that is translating the newlines. Try redirecting to a file.

update i'm wrong, i aplogize, but you can always:

while(<>)
{
  binmode ARGV;
  seek ARGV,0,0;
  local $/
  $_=<>;
}
[download]

UPDATE: well i was almost there, this is kind of stupid, but it'll work as you want it to;

while(<>)
{
    close ARGV;
    open ARGV, $ARGV or die $!.' '.$ARGV;
    binmode ARGV;
    binmode ARGV;
    local $/;
    print $_=<>;
    close BINMODE;
}
[download]

 
___crazyinsomniac_______________________________________
Disclaimer: Don't blame. It came from inside the void
perl -e "$q=$_;map({chr unpack qq;H*;,$_}split(q;;,q*H*));print;$q/$q;"

How could my shell get the newlines? Look more closely... I used Data::Dumper so I could display the control characters in the output and so not be subject to output character translation. There's no difference in the output when I redirect to a file. Note that there is no output past the control-Z. If you're trying the script yourself, make sure to binmode STDOUT so that you don't turn "\n" back into "\r\n". And try a file with a control-Z in it.