In what situations should alternative methods be considered instead of using the include command in PHP?

When the include command is not suitable, alternative methods should be considered. This may include situations where the included file needs to be executed in a specific context, or when the included file needs to be modified before execution. In such cases, using functions like file_get_contents() or require_once() may be more appropriate.

// Using file_get_contents() to read the file contents and then evaluate it
$content = file_get_contents('file.php');
eval($content);