In terms of scalability and performance, what are the drawbacks of storing a large number of IP addresses in a single text file compared to using a database?

Storing a large number of IP addresses in a single text file can lead to performance issues as the file needs to be read entirely each time to retrieve an IP address. Additionally, scalability becomes a problem as the text file grows larger, causing slower access times. Using a database allows for more efficient storage and retrieval of IP addresses, providing better scalability and performance.

// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "ip_addresses";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Retrieve IP addresses from the database
$sql = "SELECT ip_address FROM ip_table";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    // Output data of each row
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        echo "IP Address: " . $row["ip_address"]. "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}

$conn->close();