What are some best practices for handling file reading and parsing in PHP to avoid issues like incomplete data retrieval?

When reading and parsing files in PHP, it is important to handle potential issues like incomplete data retrieval by checking for errors and implementing error handling mechanisms. One way to avoid incomplete data retrieval is to use functions like file_get_contents() or fopen() with proper error checking and validation to ensure that the file is successfully read before parsing its contents.

// Example of handling file reading and parsing in PHP with error checking
$filename = 'example.txt';

// Check if file exists and is readable
if (file_exists($filename) && is_readable($filename)) {
    // Read the file contents
    $file_contents = file_get_contents($filename);
    
    // Check if file contents were successfully retrieved
    if ($file_contents !== false) {
        // Parse the file contents
        // Your parsing logic here
    } else {
        echo "Error reading file.";
    }
} else {
    echo "File does not exist or is not readable.";
}