file download counter without database

Question

I am a beginer in programming. i have a pdf file for download in my website. I want to know the no. of downloads. I searched in google.

and i tried something like this.

Answer 1

PHP can't do it alone. It would need either a database, or an empty file to save to of some sort.

The best way is to use a database. Its probably the most easiest way as well. However I'd highly recommend getting in some database experience if you want to use PHP. Although database design / usage is very different to PHP, its very useful to know