How can JSON be utilized to store and retrieve variables in PHP more efficiently compared to individual text files?

Using JSON to store and retrieve variables in PHP is more efficient compared to individual text files because JSON is a lightweight data interchange format that is easy to read and write. It allows for structured data storage and retrieval, making it easier to manage and manipulate variables. By using JSON, you can easily encode PHP variables into JSON format for storage and decode them back into PHP variables for retrieval.

// Store variables in JSON format
$data = array(
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 30,
    'email' => 'john.doe@example.com'
);

$jsonData = json_encode($data);
file_put_contents('data.json', $jsonData);

// Retrieve variables from JSON format
$jsonData = file_get_contents('data.json');
$data = json_decode($jsonData, true);

echo $data['name']; // Output: John Doe
echo $data['age']; // Output: 30
echo $data['email']; // Output: john.doe@example.com