"~" is expanded by the shell, not by perl: 
> perl -e'print @ARGV' ~joost
/home/joost

[download]

Note that ~/madam is usually NOT /home/madam, but /home/madam/madam (unless your home directory is /home). You probably want ~madam (or just plain "~", which is the current user's home dir).

"What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"

In reply to Re: how to expand home directory ~ by Joost
in thread how to expand home directory ~ by Madam

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