How can absolute and relative paths impact the functionality of PHP scripts?

Absolute paths are fixed paths that start from the root directory of the file system, while relative paths are paths that are relative to the current working directory. When working with PHP scripts, using absolute paths can ensure that the script will always reference the correct file or directory regardless of where it is being run from. This can prevent errors related to file inclusion or manipulation. To use absolute paths in PHP scripts, you can use the `__DIR__` magic constant to get the directory of the current file and build the absolute path from there.

// Using absolute path to include a file
include __DIR__ . '/path/to/file.php';