They're pretty close but it looks like File::Path::Expand chokes on the simple cases of ~name and just ~. Not that the perlfaq regex is any better, it chokes when $ENV{HOME} and $ENV{LOGDIR} are not set. A better approach would be something along the lines of:

$file =~ s{
    ^ ~             # find a leading tilde
    (               # save this in $1
    [^/]        # a non-slash character
    *     # repeated 0 or more times (0 means me)
    )
  }{
    $1
    ? (getpwnam($1))[7]
    : (getpwuid($<))[7]
  }ex;
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