In what situations should one consider switching from file-based operations to database operations in PHP scripts?

One should consider switching from file-based operations to database operations in PHP scripts when dealing with large amounts of data that need to be frequently accessed, updated, or queried. Using a database can provide better performance, scalability, and data integrity compared to handling data through files. Additionally, databases offer features such as transactions, indexing, and querying capabilities that can simplify data management tasks. 

// Example code snippet demonstrating switching from file-based operations to database operations

// Connect to a MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

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

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Perform database operations
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

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

// Close database connection
$conn->close();

Keywords

file-based operations database operations PHP scripts performance scalability

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