What are the drawbacks of using text files as databases in PHP applications, as mentioned by one of the forum users?

One of the drawbacks of using text files as databases in PHP applications is the lack of efficient querying and indexing capabilities. This can lead to slower performance when working with large datasets. One way to solve this issue is to switch to a more robust database system like MySQL or SQLite, which provide better performance and scalability for handling data.

// Example of connecting to a MySQL database and executing a query
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

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

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

// Example query
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    // Output data of each row
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        echo "id: " . $row["id"]. " - Name: " . $row["name"]. "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}

$conn->close();