How does getcwd() differ from using dirname(__FILE__) to get the current working directory in PHP?

getcwd() and dirname(__FILE__) both can be used to get the current working directory in PHP. However, getcwd() returns the current working directory as a string, while dirname(__FILE__) returns the directory of the current script file. If you want to get the current working directory regardless of the script file location, it's better to use getcwd().

// Using getcwd() to get the current working directory
$directory = getcwd();
echo $directory;