How can PHP scripts be optimized to efficiently search for specific file names in a directory?

To efficiently search for specific file names in a directory using PHP, you can use the `glob()` function along with a loop to iterate through the files in the directory and check if each file matches the specific name you are looking for. By using `glob()` with a specific pattern, you can reduce the number of files that need to be searched through, improving the efficiency of the script.

$directory = '/path/to/directory/';
$specificFileName = 'example.txt';

foreach(glob($directory . '*') as $file) {
    if(basename($file) == $specificFileName) {
        echo "Found file: " . $file;
    }
}