How can error handling be improved in a PHP script that is querying a MySQL database, considering the use of deprecated MySQL functions?

The issue with error handling in a PHP script querying a MySQL database using deprecated MySQL functions is that these functions do not provide modern error handling capabilities. To improve error handling, you can switch to using MySQLi or PDO extensions, which offer better error handling features such as exceptions. By utilizing these modern extensions, you can catch and handle errors more effectively in your PHP script.

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

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

// Perform a query
$query = "SELECT * FROM table";
$result = $mysqli->query($query);

// Check for query execution errors
if (!$result) {
    die("Query failed: " . $mysqli->error);
}

// Process the query result
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Do something with the data
}

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