In what situations would using readfile() be more appropriate than include() in PHP for serving static pages or content?

Using `readfile()` would be more appropriate than `include()` when serving static pages or content that are not PHP files and do not need to be processed by the PHP engine. `readfile()` simply reads a file and outputs it to the browser, making it efficient for serving static files like images, PDFs, or text files without executing any PHP code within them. 

$file = "path/to/static/file.txt";

if (file_exists($file)) {
    header('Content-Type: text/plain');
    readfile($file);
} else {
    echo "File not found.";
}

Keywords

readfile include PHP static pages content

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