What is the significance of the DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR constant in PHP file inclusion and how does it impact file paths?

The DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR constant in PHP is used to represent the correct directory separator for the current operating system (e.g., "/" for Unix-based systems and "\" for Windows). This is important when including files in PHP to ensure that the file paths are correctly formatted and compatible with the operating system being used.

// Using DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR to include files in PHP
include 'path' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'to' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'file.php';