int ifx_pconnect ([string
database [, string
userid [, string
password]]])
Returns: A positive Informix persistent link identifier on success, or false on error
ifx_pconnect() acts very much like ifx_connect() with two major differences.
This function behaves exactly like ifx_connect() when PHP is not running as an Apache module. First, when connecting, the function would first try to find a (persistent) link that's already open with the same host, username and password. If one is found, an identifier for it will be returned instead of opening a new connection.
Second, the connection to the SQL server will not be closed when the execution of the script ends. Instead, the link will remain open for future use (ifx_close() will not close links established by ifx_pconnect()).
This type of links is therefore called 'persistent'.
See also: ifx_connect().