LXXIV. Memcache Functions

Introduction

Memcache module provides handy procedural and object oriented interface to memcached, highly effective caching daemon, which was especially designed to decrease database load in dynamic web applications.

This module doesn't have native support of multiple servers, but you still can implement it yourself in your application. Establish several memcached connections, set priority level for each server etc.

More information about memcached can be found at http://www.danga.com/memcached/.

Requirements

This module uses functions of zlib to support on-the-fly data compression. Zlib is required to install this module.

PHP 4.3.3 or newer is required to use the memcache extension.

Installation

This PECL extension is not bundled with PHP. Additional information such as new releases, downloads, source files, maintainer information, and a CHANGELOG, can be located here: http://pecl.php.net/package/memcache.

In order to use these functions you must compile PHP with Memcache support by using the --enable-memcache[=DIR] option.

Windows users will enable php_memcache.dll inside of php.ini in order to use these functions. You may download this PECL extension DLL from the PHP Downloads page or at http://snaps.php.net/.

Predefined Constants

Table 1. MemCache Constants

Name	Description
`MEMCACHE_COMPRESSED` (integer)	Used to turn on-the-fly data compression on with Memcache::set(), Memcache::add() and Memcache::replace().

Runtime Configuration

This extension has no configuration directives defined in php.ini.

Resource Types

There is only one resource type used in memcache module - it's the link identifier for a cache server connection.

Examples

Example 1. memcache extension overview example
<?php $memcache = new Memcache; $memcache->connect('localhost', 11211) or die ("Could not connect"); $version = $memcache->getVersion(); echo "Server's version: ".$version."<br/>\n"; $tmp_object = new stdClass; $tmp_object->str_attr = 'test'; $tmp_object->int_attr = 123; $memcache->set('key', $tmp_object, false, 10) or die ("Failed to save data at the server"); echo "Store data in the cache (data will expire in 10 seconds)<br/>\n"; $get_result = $memcache->get('key'); echo "Data from the cache:<br/>\n"; var_dump($get_result); ?>

In the above example, an object is being saved in the cache and then retrieved back. Object and other non-scalar types are serialized before saving, so it's impossible to store resources (i.e. connection identifiers and others) in the cache.

Table of Contents
Memcache::add -- Add an item to the server
Memcache::close -- Close memcached server connection
Memcache::connect -- Open memcached server connection
memcache_debug -- Turn debug output on/off
Memcache::decrement -- Decrement item's value
Memcache::delete -- Delete item from the server
Memcache::flush -- Flush all existing items at the server
Memcache::get -- Retrieve item from the server
Memcache::getStats -- Get statistics of the server
Memcache::getVersion -- Return version of the server
Memcache::increment -- Increment item's value
Memcache::pconnect -- Open memcached server persistent connection
Memcache::replace -- Replace value of the existing item
Memcache::set -- Store data at the server