How does the php snippet work?

Question

 $this->_config = parse_ini_file($configIniFile);

And this is the content of $configIniFile：

; <?php exit; ?> DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE
[database]
host                 = localhost
username             = root
password             = 
dbname               = openslopeone
port                 = 3306
adapter              = PDO_MYSQL ; PDO_MYSQL or MYSQLI

Answer 1

The parse_ini_file function parses a configuration file (much like the one you have above). The ini file starts with a <?php exit; ?> to ensure that if the configuration file is loaded it won't execute any code. The ini file you are using apparently defines SQL connection information.

Answer 2

http://php.net/manual/en/function.parse-ini-file.php

It simply declares the configuration from an ini file within an array.

The exit function exists, so the configuration file cannot be read directly from a browser, (with a leading ; to comment it out).