What are the best practices for handling file uploads in PHP and storing them in a database, considering performance and scalability concerns?

When handling file uploads in PHP and storing them in a database, it is important to consider performance and scalability concerns. One best practice is to store the file itself on the server filesystem and only store the file path in the database. This reduces the size of the database and improves performance when retrieving files. Additionally, consider implementing file validation to ensure only allowed file types are uploaded. 

<?php

// Handle file upload
if(isset($_FILES['file'])) {
    $uploadDir = 'uploads/';
    $uploadFile = $uploadDir . basename($_FILES['file']['name']);

    if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'], $uploadFile)) {
        // File uploaded successfully, store file path in database
        $filePath = $uploadFile;

        // Insert file path into database
        $sql = "INSERT INTO files (file_path) VALUES ('$filePath')";
        // Execute SQL query
    } else {
        echo 'File upload failed';
    }
}

?>

Keywords

file uploads PHP database storage performance scalability

Related Questions