Are there any best practices or guidelines to follow when working with file operations in PHP, such as reading directory contents?

When working with file operations in PHP, it is important to follow best practices to ensure security and efficiency. When reading directory contents, it is recommended to use functions like `scandir()` or `glob()` to get a list of files in a directory. Additionally, always sanitize user input and validate file paths to prevent directory traversal attacks.

// Example of reading directory contents using scandir()
$directory = '/path/to/directory';
$files = scandir($directory);

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
        echo $file . PHP_EOL;
    }
}