What are the potential pitfalls of storing variables in text files instead of using a database in PHP?

Storing variables in text files instead of using a database in PHP can lead to security vulnerabilities, limited scalability, and slower data retrieval. To mitigate these issues, it is recommended to use a database management system like MySQL or SQLite to securely store and manage data.

// Connect to a MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

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

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