What impact does using multiple require statements in a PHP script have on performance?

Using multiple require statements in a PHP script can impact performance because each require statement results in a file being loaded and executed. This can lead to increased load times and potentially slow down the script's execution. To improve performance, you can use the require_once statement instead, which ensures that a file is only included once, even if multiple require_once statements are used.

<?php
require_once 'file1.php';
require_once 'file2.php';
require_once 'file3.php';
// Rest of the script
?>