Replace the code in your while with this and see if it's closer to what you're looking for:

my $t = 1;
# loop thru array of directory
while ($filename = readdir(HOMEDIR))
{
  #parse the . .. things from directory array and for jpgs only

  if($filename ne "." && $filename ne ".." && substr($filename,length(
+$filename)-4,4) eq ".jpg")
    {
      #increment index
      my $nfile;
      # create and print the jpg xml item into xml file
      $nfile=substr($filename,0,length($filename)-4);
      print FIL "<pic$t id=\"$t\" name=\"/images/$filename\"></pic$t>\
+n";
    }
  $t++;
  # loop
}
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