Are there specific best practices to follow when writing MySQL queries in PHP scripts?
When writing MySQL queries in PHP scripts, it is important to follow best practices to ensure security, efficiency, and maintainability. Some key best practices include using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks, properly sanitizing user input, and optimizing queries for performance by using indexes and limiting the amount of data retrieved.
// Example of using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();