dba_open Open database resource|falsedba_open stringpath stringmode stringhandler ... dba_open establishes a database instance for path with mode using handler. path is commonly a regular path in your filesystem. mode is "r" for read access, "w" for read/write access to an already existing database, "c" for read/write access and database creation if it doesn't currently exist, and "n" for create, truncate and read/write access. handler is the name of the handler which shall be used for accessing path. It is passed all optional parameters given to dba_open and can act on behalf of them. dba_open returns a positive handle or &false;, in the case the open is successful or fails, respectively. There can only be one writer for one database file. When you use dba on a webserver and more than one request requires write operations they can only be done one after another. Unfortuanetly some of the external libraries simply fail or ignore this when trying to open the database for another write operation. In this case you must use semaphores to guard against. See System V semaphore support. See also: dba_popen dba_close