How to Efficiently Store and Retrieve PHP Arrays as Delimited Strings in a Database?

Storing Flat Arrays as Delimited Strings in Databases

When dealing with arrays of data that need to be persisted in a database, it becomes necessary to convert them into strings for efficient storage. This article explores the best method for converting a PHP array into a delimited string.

Consider the example array $type, which contains a list of types. The goal is to store this array in a database as a single string with each entry separated by a specific delimiter, such as "|".

To achieve this, the most effective method is to use the implode() function. imploding joins all elements of an array into a single string using the specified glue. In this case, the delimiter is "|".

$type = $_POST['type'];
$delimitedString = implode('|', $type);

The resulting $delimitedString will contain a string with each type separated by "|". This string can then be stored in the database as a single field. When retrieving the data from the database, the string can be converted back into an array by using the explode() function, which does the opposite of implode().

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