When working with CSS files, at what point should one consider consolidating multiple smaller files into one larger file for optimization purposes?

When working with CSS files, it is advisable to consider consolidating multiple smaller files into one larger file for optimization purposes when there are a significant number of separate CSS files being loaded on a webpage. By combining multiple CSS files into one larger file, you can reduce the number of HTTP requests made by the browser, resulting in faster loading times and improved performance. This consolidation can be particularly beneficial for websites with a large amount of CSS code spread across multiple files.

<?php
$css_files = array(
    'style1.css',
    'style2.css',
    'style3.css'
);

$combined_css = '';

foreach ($css_files as $file) {
    $combined_css .= file_get_contents($file);
}

file_put_contents('combined_styles.css', $combined_css);
?>