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# XI. dBase functions

These functions allow you to access records stored in dBase-format (dbf) databases.

There is no support for indexes or memo fields. There is no support for locking, too. Two concurrent webserver processes modifying the same dBase file will very likely ruin your database.

Unlike SQL databases, dBase "databases" cannot change the database definition afterwards. Once the file is created, the database definition is fixed. There are no indexes that speed searching or otherwise organize your data. dBase files are simple sequential files of fixed length records. Records are appended to the end of the file and delete records are kept until you call dbase_pack()().

We recommend that you do not use dBase files as your production database. Choose any real SQL server instead; MySQL or Postgres are common choices with PHP. dBase support is here to allow you to import and export data to and from your web database, since the file format is commonly understood with Windows spreadsheets and organizers. Import and export of data is about all that dBase support is good for.

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