What is the significance of the if statement in the PHP code related to the file and directory checks?

The significance of the if statement in the PHP code related to file and directory checks is to ensure that the file or directory exists before attempting to perform any operations on it. This helps prevent errors and unexpected behavior in the code by verifying the existence of the specified file or directory.

$file_path = 'path/to/file.txt';

if (file_exists($file_path)) {
    // File exists, perform operations
    $file_contents = file_get_contents($file_path);
    echo $file_contents;
} else {
    // File does not exist
    echo 'File does not exist.';
}