In what situations would it be appropriate to use the "flock" function in PHP file handling operations like in the code snippet?

The "flock" function in PHP file handling operations is used to lock a file during reading or writing to prevent other processes from accessing it simultaneously. This can be useful in situations where multiple processes may be trying to access the same file at the same time to avoid data corruption or conflicts. It is appropriate to use the "flock" function when you need to ensure exclusive access to a file to prevent race conditions. 

$fp = fopen('example.txt', 'r+');
if (flock($fp, LOCK_EX)) {
    // Perform file operations here
    flock($fp, LOCK_UN); // Release the lock
} else {
    echo "Could not lock the file!";
}
fclose($fp);

Keywords

flock PHP file handling concurrency synchronization

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