java - How to handle ~ in file paths

Question

I'm writing a simple command line Java utility. I would like the user to be able to pass in a file path relative to their home directory using the ~ operator. So something like ~/Documents/...

My question is is there a way to make Java resolve this type of path automatically? Or do I need to scan the file path for the ~ operator?

It seems like this type of functionality should be baked into the File object. But it doesn't seem to be.

Answer 1

A simple path = path.replaceFirst("^~", System.getProperty("user.home")); when it is gotten from the user (before making a File out of it) should be enough to work in most cases - because the tilde is only expanded to a home directory if it is the first character in a directory section of a path.