What are some best practices for implementing a PHP counter script on a website to ensure accurate tracking of user data?

Issue: To ensure accurate tracking of user data using a PHP counter script on a website, it is important to properly initialize the counter variable, securely update it when a user visits the website, and store the counter value in a secure location. 

// Initialize the counter variable
$counter_file = 'counter.txt';

if (!file_exists($counter_file)) {
    file_put_contents($counter_file, '0');
}

// Update the counter value when a user visits the website
$counter = (int)file_get_contents($counter_file);
$counter++;
file_put_contents($counter_file, $counter);

// Display the counter value on the website
echo 'Total visitors: ' . $counter;

Keywords

PHP counter script tracking user data implementation

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