What is the impact of using persistent database connections in PHP on resource usage and performance?

Persistent database connections in PHP can lead to increased resource usage and potential performance issues. This is because persistent connections remain open even after the script finishes executing, which can lead to a buildup of connections and consume more resources than necessary. To mitigate this, it is recommended to use non-persistent connections or explicitly close persistent connections after use.

// Example of using non-persistent database connection in PHP
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

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

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

// Perform database operations

// Close connection
$conn->close();