How can PHP beginners effectively troubleshoot issues when trying to read and edit text files?

When PHP beginners encounter issues while trying to read and edit text files, they can effectively troubleshoot by checking for common mistakes such as incorrect file paths, file permissions, or syntax errors in their code. They can also use PHP functions like file_exists() and is_readable() to verify if the file exists and is readable before attempting to read or edit it.

$file_path = "example.txt";

if (file_exists($file_path) && is_readable($file_path)) {
    $file_contents = file_get_contents($file_path);
    
    // Edit the file contents here
    
    file_put_contents($file_path, $file_contents);
    
    echo "File successfully read and edited.";
} else {
    echo "Error: Unable to read or edit the file.";
}