(PHP 5)
ibase_pconnect — Open a persistent connection to an InterBase database
$database
   [, string $username
   [, string $password
   [, string $charset
   [, int $buffers
   [, int $dialect
   [, string $role
   [, int $sync
  ]]]]]]]] )Opens a persistent connection to an InterBase database.
ibase_pconnect() acts very much like ibase_connect() with two major differences.
First, when connecting, the function will first try to find a (persistent) link that's already opened with the same parameters. If one is found, an identifier for it will be returned instead of opening a new connection.
Second, the connection to the InterBase server will not be closed when the execution of the script ends. Instead, the link will remain open for future use (ibase_close() will not close links established by ibase_pconnect()). This type of link is therefore called 'persistent'.
database
       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.   
      
usernameThe user name. Can be set with the ibase.default_user php.ini directive.
password
       The password for username. Can be set with the
       ibase.default_password php.ini directive.
      
charset
       charset is the default character set for a
       database.
      
buffers
       buffers is the number of database buffers to
       allocate for the server-side cache. If 0 or omitted, server chooses
       its own default.
      
dialect
       dialect selects the default SQL dialect for any
       statement executed within a connection, and it defaults to the highest
       one supported by client libraries. Functional only with InterBase 6
       and up.
      
roleFunctional only with InterBase 5 and up.
sync
   Returns an InterBase link identifier on success, or FALSE on error.