What are the best practices for handling file paths and links in PHP scripts to avoid errors and improve performance?

When handling file paths and links in PHP scripts, it is important to use built-in functions like `realpath()` to ensure that the paths are correctly resolved and avoid errors due to relative paths. Additionally, using constants like `__DIR__` or `__FILE__` can help create more robust and portable paths. Finally, caching the resolved paths can improve performance by reducing the number of filesystem calls. 

// Example of handling file paths using realpath() and constants
$filePath = realpath(__DIR__ . '/path/to/file.txt');
if ($filePath) {
    // File path is valid, proceed with operations
    echo "File path: " . $filePath;
} else {
    // Handle error when file path is not valid
    echo "Invalid file path";
}

Keywords

file paths links PHP scripts errors performance

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