What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a text file versus a database to store daily visitor counts in PHP?

Storing daily visitor counts in a text file is simpler and requires less setup compared to using a database. However, using a database offers better scalability, organization, and security for storing and retrieving data. 

// Storing daily visitor counts in a text file
$file = 'visitor_counts.txt';
$visitors = (int)file_get_contents($file);
$visitors++;
file_put_contents($file, $visitors);

// Storing daily visitor counts in a database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "visitor_counts";

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

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

$sql = "UPDATE visitor_counts SET count = count + 1 WHERE date = CURDATE()";
$conn->query($sql);

$conn->close();

Keywords

text file database daily visitor counts advantages disadvantages

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