What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fseek() to navigate to a specific location in a file compared to reading the entire file, making changes, and rewriting it?

When working with large files, using fseek() to navigate to a specific location in the file is more efficient than reading the entire file, making changes, and rewriting it. fseek() allows you to directly move the file pointer to the desired position without the need to read and process unnecessary data. This can save time and resources, especially when dealing with large files.

$file = fopen("example.txt", "r+");

// Move the file pointer to a specific location
fseek($file, 100);

// Write data at the new position
fwrite($file, "New data");

fclose($file);