SimplePhpCache

A very simple PHP caching system which can cache HTML output or variables.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher

Preparation

Include the SimplePhpCache class

include "SimplePhpCache.php";

Set the cacheBaseDir (Optional, default is the system temp directory)

SimplePhpCache::$cacheBaseDir = "./";

Set the max cache time in seconds (Optional, default is 86400 (1 day)):

SimplePhpCache::$maxCacheTime = 3600; // 1h

Cache HTML

<?php
$cacheName = "html_cache_1";
if (SimplePhpCache::initHTMLCaching($cacheName)) {
?>
	// Output your html stuff here
	<h1>Test</h1>
	<?=generateOutput();?>
<?php
}
echo SimplePhpCache::finishHTMLCaching($cacheName);
?>

Cache a variable

<?php
$cacheName = "var_cache_1";
if (SimplePhpCache::initVarCaching($cacheName)) {
	// Variable to cache:
	$dataToCache = array(1, 2, 3);
	SimplePhpCache::setVarCaching($cacheName, $dataToCache);
}
print_r(SimplePhpCache::finishVarCaching($cacheName));
?>

Clear the cache

Clear all cache files

SimplePhpCache::clearCache();

To refresh a special cache file, set in the init method as the second parameter true

// HTML
SimplePhpCache::initHTMLCaching($cacheName, true)

// Variable
SimplePhpCache::initVarCaching($cacheName, true)

---

Migration

From pre-0.2 (PHP 5.x / 7.x)

PHP version: Minimum requirement is now PHP 8.2.

Variable cache format changed (breaking): variable cache now uses a JSON-based payload format (SPCJSON1: marker + JSON) instead of PHP serialize(). Caching PHP objects is no longer supported.

Legacy cache files: old serialized variable cache files are treated as invalid cache entries. They are deleted and treated as cache miss, then regenerated in the new JSON format on the next write.

Cache ID prefix sanitization: Non-alphanumeric characters in the $idPrefix parameter of clearCache() and getCacheCount() are now stripped. If you relied on special characters in prefixes, update your prefix strings accordingly.

Release Process

When creating a version tag, add a matching section to CHANGELOG.md first:

• ## [x.y.z] - YYYY-MM-DD

This repository includes a GitHub Actions guard that runs on tag pushes and fails if the corresponding changelog release section is missing.