public static String replaceHome(final String file) {
        String resolved = file;
        if (resolved != null && resolved.startsWith("~")) {
            resolved = System.getProperty("user.home") + resolved.substring(1);
        }
        return resolved;
    }
Replaces '~' at the start of the path with the user.home
stroom-util/src/main/java/stroom/util/io/FileUtil.java