I had no problem getting your code to output the new XML, using valdez's advice. The reason i am posting is because your question states that you want to create a new XML file, yet you are also outputing HTML ... if all you need to do is print out the item codes, you can use XML::XPath, which i find is a better tool for this kind of problem: 
use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::XPath;
use CGI::Pretty qw(:standard);

my $xpath   = XML::XPath->new(ioref => *DATA);
my $nodeset = $xpath->find('/profile/bids/itemcode');
my @b_item  = map $_->string_value, $nodeset->get_nodelist;

print header,
   start_html('itemcodes'),
   h1('Then'),
   (map { $_,br } @b_item),
   end_html,
;

__DATA__
<profile username="Tom" language="eng" lastlogin="">
 <bids>
   <itemcode>4985874875</itemcode>
   <itemcode>7685976785</itemcode>
   <itemcode>6758679837</itemcode>
   <itemcode>7849609576</itemcode>
   <itemcode>2857689576</itemcode>
 </bids>
 <itemwatch>
   <itemcode>6758767856</itemcode>
   <itemcode>3758678576</itemcode>
 </itemwatch>
</profile>

[download]
One last note, i rarely have to add anything to the XML files that i use. Instead, data is typically stored somewhere else (a database usually) and i use XML as an intermediary transformation. This way, the need to edit an XML file is aleviated, instead, i change the data in the database and create a new XML file. This doesn't always work, but it seems like a much better way to go in the long run ... YMMV, of course. ;)

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

In reply to (jeffa) Re: Writing Out XML using XML::Simple by jeffa
in thread Writing Out XML using XML::Simple by Anonymous Monk

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