Are there any common pitfalls to avoid when querying specific data in MySQL using PHP?

One common pitfall to avoid when querying specific data in MySQL using PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can leave your application vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, always use prepared statements with parameterized queries to securely pass user input to the database.

// Connect to the database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Check for connection errors
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $mysqli->connect_error);
}

// Prepare a statement with a parameterized query
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);

// Set the username variable from user input
$username = $_POST['username'];

// Execute the query
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Loop through the results
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Do something with the data
}

// Close the statement and connection
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();