What potential issues can arise when working with file handling in PHP?

One potential issue when working with file handling in PHP is file permissions. If the file being accessed does not have the appropriate permissions set, PHP may not be able to read, write, or modify the file. This can be solved by ensuring that the file permissions are set correctly before attempting any file operations.

// Check file permissions before performing any file operations
if (is_readable('example.txt') && is_writable('example.txt')) {
    // File operations can be safely performed here
} else {
    echo "File permissions are not set correctly.";
}