What alternative data formats are recommended for storing structured data instead of using txt files in PHP?

Storing structured data in txt files in PHP can be cumbersome and inefficient, especially when dealing with large datasets. A recommended alternative data format for storing structured data is using JSON or CSV files. JSON offers a more structured and readable format, while CSV is commonly used for tabular data and can be easily imported/exported from various applications. 

// Example of storing structured data in a JSON file
$data = [
    ['name' => 'John Doe', 'age' => 30],
    ['name' => 'Jane Smith', 'age' => 25]
];

$jsonData = json_encode($data);
file_put_contents('data.json', $jsonData);

// Example of reading structured data from a JSON file
$jsonData = file_get_contents('data.json');
$data = json_decode($jsonData, true);

foreach ($data as $item) {
    echo $item['name'] . ' is ' . $item['age'] . ' years old' . PHP_EOL;
}

Keywords

JSON XML CSV SQLite MySQL

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