What does the "stat failed" error mean in the context of using filesize() in PHP?

The "stat failed" error in PHP occurs when the filesize() function is unable to retrieve the file size due to permission issues or file not found. To solve this issue, you can check if the file exists and if the script has the necessary permissions to access the file before calling the filesize() function.

$file = 'example.txt';

if (file_exists($file) && is_readable($file)) {
    $size = filesize($file);
    echo "File size: $size bytes";
} else {
    echo "File does not exist or is not readable";
}