PHP - define constants versus using config.ini

Question

Performance wise, I was wondering which method of defining constants/settings is better?

Using a config.ini file through a class like Zend_Config_Ini or just defining a series of php constants?

Nikola Stjelja · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-21 22:57:02Z

4

Defining PHP constants is faster.

Why:

The constant file needs not to be parsed by your application and converted into PHP variables
If not changed the PHP constant file will be bytecode cached if you have APC installed
Constants are per default unchangeble, and have a better perfomance than arrays or plain old variables since their size and type doesn't change , ever.

answered Sep 21, 2009 at 22:57

Nikola Stjelja

3,7079 gold badges41 silver badges47 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Josh · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-13 14:16:07Z

1

Since using .ini files requires a call to parse_ini_file() (and thus reads a file on disk) it will be trivially slower than defining constants inline. Though if you define your constants in a seperate PHP file and include() it would probably come to the same thing.

However, I would usually recommend using .ini files because it is more maintainable and makes deployments simpler.

edited Nov 13, 2011 at 14:16

Josh

11.1k11 gold badges67 silver badges112 bronze badges

answered Sep 21, 2009 at 21:23

ctford

7,2974 gold badges36 silver badges52 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP - define constants versus using config.ini

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related