How can PHP developers improve the performance of functions that list subdirectories and files within a directory?

One way PHP developers can improve the performance of functions that list subdirectories and files within a directory is by using the `scandir()` function instead of `opendir()` and `readdir()`. `scandir()` returns an array of files and directories in the specified path, eliminating the need for multiple function calls and reducing the overall execution time.

$directory = "/path/to/directory";
$files = scandir($directory);

foreach($files as $file){
    if($file != '.' && $file != '..'){
        echo $file . "<br>";
    }
}