What is the significance of the leading slash in file paths when working with PHP?

The leading slash in file paths in PHP indicates an absolute path, starting from the root directory of the server. This can cause issues when moving code between different servers with different directory structures. To ensure portability and consistency, it is recommended to use relative paths instead of absolute paths in PHP file operations.

// Use relative path instead of absolute path
$file = 'path/to/file.txt';

// Example of reading a file using a relative path
$data = file_get_contents($file);