use strict; 
use Cwd 'abs_path'; 
use File::Spec::Link;
use vars qw ($LIST_SEPARATOR);

my $path = "/home/czechar/foo/bar/myfile.xml";
print STDOUT "Original path: $path\n";
my $new_path = File::Spec::Link->resolve_all($path);
print STDOUT "Resolved path(1): $new_path\n";
my $abs_path = abs_path($path);
print STDOUT "Resolved path(2): $abs_path\n";

# # now try to read from a file... 
# open (FILE_LIST, "< ./filenames");
my $path = <FILE_LIST>;
chomp $path;
print STDOUT "path from file: $path\n";
$abs_path = abs_path($path);
print STDOUT "abs path: $abs_path\n";
$new_path = File::Spec::Link->resolve_all($path);
print STDOUT "new path: $new_path\n";
close (FILE_LIST);
exit;

##</code><code>##

My code:
<code>
[ cut and paste your code here ]
</code>