Write to file or use MySql?

at what point does it make sense?

[mifi601]

I am laying out the data model for a small real estate site.

So far whenver I needed small databases, I just created regular files as tables, searched them and put out whatever I needed.

Works fine for small apps.

Have only held my nose into Mysql and it seems that I have to do the exact same searches, except there is an additional layer in between.

Now, assuming that the authors of mysql are really good at what they are doing (as opposed to yours truly) I would not lose any speed by using mysql.

But at what KB,amount of tables,.. size does it really make sense to use mysql rather then simply writing into a straight file?

[mincklerstraat]

If you have almost any kind of searches, it would make sense to use a database, and much quicker than reading in all those files. It isn't too terribly difficult once you've got something of a background in PHP - go for it!

[mifi601]

That's also my gut feeling, I actually got pretty far in very little time - php my admin is great!