In what ways can the use of constants, like the "DS" constant in PHP, improve code readability and maintainability?

Using constants like the "DS" constant in PHP can improve code readability and maintainability by providing a clear and descriptive way to represent commonly used values or paths. By defining constants for values that may change or need to be reused throughout the codebase, it becomes easier to make updates in one central location rather than searching for and updating multiple instances of the value throughout the code.

// Define a constant for directory separator
define('DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);

// Example usage of the DS constant
$path = 'path' . DS . 'to' . DS . 'file.php';
echo $path;