What are best practices for handling text files in PHP, especially when using functions like preg_match_all?

When handling text files in PHP, especially when using functions like preg_match_all, it is important to properly handle file opening, reading, and closing to avoid memory leaks and ensure efficient processing. It is recommended to use file handling functions like fopen, fread, and fclose to read the contents of the text file line by line or in chunks, instead of loading the entire file into memory at once. 

// Open the text file for reading
$file = fopen("example.txt", "r");

// Read the file line by line
while(!feof($file)) {
    $line = fgets($file);

    // Use preg_match_all to extract desired patterns from each line
    preg_match_all('/pattern/', $line, $matches);

    // Process the matches as needed
    // ...

}

// Close the file after processing
fclose($file);

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