How can pointers to uploaded files be stored in a database instead of the actual files?

When storing pointers to uploaded files in a database instead of the actual files, you can save disk space and improve database performance by avoiding the need to store large files directly in the database. To implement this, you can upload the files to a server directory and store the file path or URL in the database. This way, you can retrieve the file location from the database and serve the file to users when needed. 

// Upload file to server directory
$uploadDir = 'uploads/';
$fileName = $_FILES['file']['name'];
$targetFilePath = $uploadDir . $fileName;

if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'], $targetFilePath)) {
    // Store file path in database
    $filePathInDatabase = $targetFilePath;
    
    // Insert file path into database table
    $sql = "INSERT INTO files (file_path) VALUES ('$filePathInDatabase')";
    // Execute SQL query
} else {
    echo "Failed to upload file.";
}

Keywords

PHP file upload database pointers storage

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