How can PHP developers effectively troubleshoot and debug issues related to file access and file existence in their scripts?

To effectively troubleshoot and debug file access and file existence issues in PHP scripts, developers can use functions like file_exists() and is_readable() to check if a file exists and if it is readable. Additionally, using error handling techniques like try-catch blocks can help catch and handle any exceptions that may occur during file access operations.

$file_path = 'example.txt';

// Check if the file exists
if (file_exists($file_path)) {
    // Check if the file is readable
    if (is_readable($file_path)) {
        // Perform file operations here
        $file_contents = file_get_contents($file_path);
        echo $file_contents;
    } else {
        echo "File is not readable";
    }
} else {
    echo "File does not exist";
}