conf.php is a php file to define some global variables and function to get database handle
<?php
.........define variables like DB_HOSTNAME, etc ..
function getDBH(){
$dsn = 'mysql:host='.DB_HOSTNAME.';dbname='.DB_NAME;
$options = array(
PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND => 'SET NAMES utf8',
PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false //to get native data types from prepared statements.(> PHP 5.3 && mysqlnd)
);
$dbh = new PDO($dsn, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD, $options);
return $dbh;
}
?>
Hope it helps