diff --git a/lib/query.cc b/lib/query.cc
index 7b36ee015e..761725fcf6 100644
--- a/lib/query.cc
+++ b/lib/query.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 
 #include "system.h"
 
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <system_error>
+
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
@@ -16,11 +19,12 @@
 #include <rpm/rpmts.h>
 #include <rpm/rpmsq.h>
 #include <rpm/rpmlog.h>
-#include <rpm/rpmfileutil.h>	/* rpmCleanPath */
+#include <rpm/rpmfileutil.h>
 #include <rpm/rpmstring.h>
 
 #include "rpmgi.hh"
 #include "manifest.hh"
+#include "rpmmacro_internal.hh"
 
 #include "debug.h"
 
@@ -405,43 +409,40 @@ static rpmdbMatchIterator initQueryIterator(QVA_t qva, rpmts ts, const char * ar
 	/* fallthrough on absolute and relative paths */
     case RPMQV_PATH:
     case RPMQV_PATH_ALL:
-    {   char * fn;
+    {   std::string fn;
 
 	for (s = arg; *s != '\0'; s++)
 	    if (!(*s == '.' || *s == '/'))
 		break;
 
 	if (*s == '\0') {
-	    fn = realpath(arg, NULL);
-	    if (!fn)
-		fn = xstrdup(arg);
+	    std::error_code ec {};
+	    fn = std::filesystem::canonical(arg);
+	    if (ec)
+		fn = rpm::normalize_path(arg);
 	} else if (*arg != '/') {
-	    char *curDir = rpmGetCwd();
-	    fn = (char *) rpmGetPath(curDir, "/", arg, NULL);
-	    free(curDir);
-	} else
-	    fn = xstrdup(arg);
-	(void) rpmCleanPath(fn);
+	    fn = rpm::join_path({std::filesystem::current_path(), arg}, false);
+	} else {
+	    fn = rpm::normalize_path(arg);
+	}
 
 	rpmDbiTagVal tag = RPMDBI_INSTFILENAMES;
 	if (qva->qva_source == RPMQV_PATH_ALL)
 	    tag = RPMDBI_BASENAMES;
-	mi = rpmtsInitIterator(ts, tag, fn, 0);
+	mi = rpmtsInitIterator(ts, tag, fn.c_str(), 0);
 	if (mi == NULL)
-	    mi = rpmtsInitIterator(ts, RPMDBI_PROVIDENAME, fn, 0);
+	    mi = rpmtsInitIterator(ts, RPMDBI_PROVIDENAME, fn.c_str(), 0);
 
 	if (mi == NULL) {
 	    struct stat sb;
-	    char * full_fn = rpmGetPath(rpmtsRootDir(ts), fn, NULL);
-	    if (lstat(full_fn, &sb) != 0)
-		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, _("file %s: %s\n"), fn, strerror(errno));
+	    auto full_fn = rpm::join_path({rpmtsRootDir(ts), fn}, false);
+	    if (lstat(full_fn.c_str(), &sb) != 0)
+		rpmlog(RPMLOG_ERR, _("file %s: %s\n"), fn.c_str(), strerror(errno));
 	    else
 		rpmlog(RPMLOG_NOTICE,
-			_("file %s is not owned by any package\n"), fn);
-	    free(full_fn);
+			_("file %s is not owned by any package\n"), fn.c_str());
 	}
 
-	free(fn);
     }	break;
 
     case RPMQV_DBOFFSET: