server:~/403ad# time perl test.pl "/i/am/a/large/../small/directory/../file/that/../which/../that/needs/tobe/../to/be//corrected/../bettered/../made/better/a/bi
t/../great/bit/../../enormous/bit/";
/i/am/a/small/file/that/needs/to/be/made/better/a/enormous/bit/

real    0m0.066s
user    0m0.052s
sys     0m0.013s