How can PHP be used to generate and maintain sequential file names for saved images?

When saving images in PHP, you can generate sequential file names to avoid overwriting existing files. One way to do this is by using the `uniqid()` function to create a unique identifier for each image. You can then append this identifier to the file name before saving the image. This ensures that each image has a distinct file name.

// Generate a unique identifier
$unique_id = uniqid();

// Set the directory where images will be saved
$directory = "images/";

// Get the file extension of the uploaded image
$file_extension = pathinfo($_FILES["image"]["name"], PATHINFO_EXTENSION);

// Create the file name with the unique identifier and file extension
$file_name = $directory . "image_" . $unique_id . "." . $file_extension;

// Save the uploaded image with the generated file name
move_uploaded_file($_FILES["image"]["tmp_name"], $file_name);

echo "Image saved as: " . $file_name;