PHP memory_limit: Purpose and Configuration

In PHP, memory_limit is a crucial configuration option that restricts the amount of memory the script can use during execution. This option can be set in the php.ini configuration file or dynamically using the ini_set() function in the script.

For example, setting the memory_limit to 128M means that the script can use a maximum of 128 megabytes of memory. If the script attempts to use more memory than this limit, it will trigger a fatal error causing the script to stop executing.

By setting the memory_limit, script execution time can be prevented from being too long or causing high server load due to excessive memory usage. However, it is important to note that setting a memory_limit that is too low can lead to memory overflow issues when processing large amounts of data, so the parameter should be set reasonably based on the actual situation.