What is the purpose of using wildcards in a file search with PHP?

Using wildcards in a file search with PHP allows for more flexible and dynamic searching capabilities. Wildcards such as "*" and "?" can be used to match any combination of characters in a file name, making it easier to search for files based on patterns or partial names. This can be particularly useful when searching for files with varying names or extensions.

// Search for files with a specific pattern using wildcards
$files = glob('/path/to/files/*.txt');

// Loop through the array of matching files
foreach ($files as $file) {
    echo $file . "\n";
}