What are some best practices for handling direct file access prevention in PHP scripts?

Direct file access prevention in PHP scripts is important to ensure that sensitive files are not accessed directly by users. One way to prevent direct file access is by using a check at the beginning of the script to verify if the file is being accessed through the script itself and not directly. 

<?php
// Check if the file is being accessed through the script
if (basename(__FILE__) == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'])) {
    // File is being accessed through the script, continue with the script execution
} else {
    // File is being accessed directly, redirect or show an error message
    header("HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden");
    exit("Direct access not allowed");
}

Keywords

file access prevention PHP scripts security measures htaccess permissions

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