In what scenarios would using arrays for user authentication in PHP be considered more elegant and efficient than multiple if/else statements?

Using arrays for user authentication in PHP can be considered more elegant and efficient than multiple if/else statements when you have a large number of users to authenticate. By storing user credentials in an array, you can easily loop through the array to check if the user input matches any of the stored credentials, reducing the need for repetitive if/else statements. This approach also allows for easier maintenance and scalability as you can easily add or remove users from the authentication array. 

// Array of user credentials
$users = array(
    'user1' => 'password1',
    'user2' => 'password2',
    'user3' => 'password3'
);

// User input
$username = $_POST['username'];
$password = $_POST['password'];

// Check if user input matches stored credentials
if (array_key_exists($username, $users) && $users[$username] == $password) {
    echo "Authentication successful!";
} else {
    echo "Authentication failed. Please try again.";
}

Keywords

arrays user authentication PHP efficiency elegance

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