How can absolute paths be used effectively in PHP scripts to avoid file access issues?

When using relative paths in PHP scripts, file access issues can arise due to inconsistencies in the file structure or working directory. To avoid these problems, using absolute paths is a more reliable approach. Absolute paths specify the full directory path from the root directory, ensuring that the script can locate the files correctly regardless of the working directory.

// Using absolute path to include a file
include_once('/var/www/html/includes/config.php');