(PHP 3 >= 3.0.6, PHP 4, PHP 5)
ibase_connect -- 
     Open a connection to an InterBase database
    
Description
resource 
ibase_connect ( [string database [, string username [, string password [, string charset [, int buffers [, int dialect [, string role [, int sync]]]]]]]] )
     Establishes a connection to an InterBase server.
     The database argument
     has to be a valid path to database file on the server it resides on.
     If the server is not local, it must be prefixed with either
     'hostname:' (TCP/IP), '//hostname/' (NetBEUI) or 'hostname@' (IPX/SPX),
     depending on the connection protocol used. username
     and password can also
     be specified with PHP configuration directives ibase.default_user and
     ibase.default_password. charset is the default
     character set for a database. buffers is the number
     of database buffers to allocate for the server-side cache. If 0 or omitted,
     server chooses its own default. dialect selects
     the default SQL dialect for any statement executed within a connection,
     and it defaults to the highest one supported by client libraries.
    
     In case a second call is made to
     ibase_connect() with the same arguments, no new link
     will be established, but instead, the link identifier of the already opened
     link will be returned. The link to the server will be closed as soon as the
     execution of the script ends, unless it's closed earlier by explicitly calling
     ibase_close(). 
     
| Example 1. ibase_connect() example | 
<?php$host = 'localhost:/path/to/your.gdb';
 
 $dbh = ibase_connect($host, $username, $password);
 $stmt = 'SELECT * FROM tblname';
 $sth = ibase_query($dbh, $stmt);
 while ($row = ibase_fetch_object($sth)) {
 echo $row->email, "\n";
 }
 ibase_free_result($sth);
 ibase_close($dbh);
 ?>
 | 
 | 
    Note: 
      The optional buffers parameter was added in 
      PHP 4.0.0.
     
Note: 
      The optional dialect parameter was added in PHP
      4.0.0 and is functional only with InterBase 6 and up.
     
Note: 
      The optional role parameter was added in PHP
      4.0.0 and is functional only with InterBase 5 and up.
     
Note: 
      If you get some error like "arithmetic exception, numeric overflow, 
      or string truncation. Cannot transliterate character between character
      sets" (this occurs when you try use some character with accents) 
      when using this and after ibase_query() you must
      set the character set (i.e. ISO8859_1 or your current character set).
     
     See also 
     ibase_pconnect() and
     ibase_close().