What best practice alternatives can be used to handle variables in a text file in PHP, as suggested in the forum thread?

When handling variables in a text file in PHP, it is best practice to use a structured format like JSON or CSV to store and retrieve data. This ensures that the data is easily readable and manageable. Additionally, using functions like `file_get_contents()` and `file_put_contents()` can simplify the process of reading and writing to text files. 

// Read data from a JSON file
$data = json_decode(file_get_contents('data.json'), true);

// Manipulate data
$data['key'] = 'value';

// Write data back to the JSON file
file_put_contents('data.json', json_encode($data));

Keywords

file_get_contents file_put_contents serialize unserialize JSON_ENCODE JSON_DECODE

Related Questions