Echoing content sometimes takes a very long time

Question

I have a script that builds my webpage in one string ($content) and then echo it to the user.

My script looks like this:

$time1= microtime(true);
$conten         


        

Answer 1

My guess is that the act of accessing that large of a string takes up a decent amount of memory over multiple uses. Because PHP is garbage collected, memory is taken up until the garbage collecter is ran, then it's freed. My guess is that multiple requests to store content in a string variable is causing the rapid filling up of volatile memory (RAM). Then a few times a day you start hitting the limit causing the slower load times. Garbage collecter hits, and everything is back to normal.