php gdbm

GDBM (GNU dbm) is a library in PHP that provides a simple interface to the GNU DBM database. It allows you to create and manipulate key-value pairs in a persistent database file.

To use GDBM in PHP, you need to have the GDBM extension enabled. This extension is not bundled with PHP by default, so you may need to install it separately.

Once the GDBM extension is installed and enabled, you can use the following functions to work with GDBM databases in PHP:

1. gdbm_open: Opens a GDBM database file and returns a resource handle.
2. gdbm_close: Closes an opened GDBM database.
3. gdbm_fetch: Retrieves the value associated with a given key from the GDBM database.
4. gdbm_exists: Checks if a key exists in the GDBM database.
5. gdbm_store: Stores a key-value pair in the GDBM database.
6. gdbm_delete: Deletes a key-value pair from the GDBM database.
7. gdbm_firstkey: Retrieves the first key in the GDBM database.
8. gdbm_nextkey: Retrieves the next key in the GDBM database.

Here's an example that demonstrates the basic usage of GDBM in PHP:

<?php
// Open the GDBM database
$db = gdbm_open("mydatabase.db", "c");

// Store a key-value pair
gdbm_store($db, "key1", "value1", GDBM_INSERT);

// Fetch the value associated with a key
$value = gdbm_fetch($db, "key1");
echo $value; // Output: value1

// Check if a key exists
if (gdbm_exists($db, "key1")) {
    echo "Key exists";
} else {
    echo "Key does not exist";
}

// Delete a key-value pair
gdbm_delete($db, "key1");

// Close the GDBM database
gdbm_close($db);
?>

Note that GDBM is a simple key-value store and may not be suitable for complex data structures or large-scale applications. If you require more advanced database features, you may consider using other database systems like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB.