How can developers differentiate between file-related errors and actual database connectivity issues in PHP scripts?

To differentiate between file-related errors and actual database connectivity issues in PHP scripts, developers can use error handling techniques such as try-catch blocks and checking the error messages returned by functions like file_exists() for file-related errors and mysqli_connect() for database connectivity issues.

try {
    // Attempt to establish a database connection
    $connection = mysqli_connect($host, $username, $password, $database);
    
    if (!$connection) {
        throw new Exception("Database connection error: " . mysqli_connect_error());
    }
    
    // Perform file operations
    if (!file_exists($file)) {
        throw new Exception("File does not exist");
    }
    
    // Continue with script execution if no errors occur
    echo "Database connection successful and file exists!";
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage();
}