It does, unless file() leaves \n at the end of each array value. On second thought, I'm thinking it does.
Not sure how file() is faster than file_get_contents(), since it returns the same thing, except in an array instead of a string. I imagine the time it took to split into an array would lag it compared to just returning the data.

If you've benchmarked it, I'd love to see the results. I'll definitely wanna do this once I finish my benchmark extension to my framework, as this is relevant to my interests.