What is the best practice for including PHP files in an HTML file for navigation menus?

When including PHP files in an HTML file for navigation menus, the best practice is to use the `include` function in PHP. This allows you to separate your navigation menu code into a separate PHP file and include it in your HTML file wherever you need it. This makes your code more organized and easier to maintain.

```php
<?php include 'navigation_menu.php'; ?>
```

In this example, the `include` function is used to include the `navigation_menu.php` file in the HTML file. This will insert the contents of the `navigation_menu.php` file into the HTML file at the location of the `include` function.