How can PHP be utilized to automate administrative tasks in a forum, such as user deletion?

To automate administrative tasks in a forum, such as user deletion, PHP can be utilized to create a script that connects to the forum's database and executes queries to delete user entries based on specified criteria.

<?php
// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "forum";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

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

// Define the criteria for user deletion
$user_id = 123;

// Execute the query to delete the user
$sql = "DELETE FROM users WHERE id = $user_id";
if ($conn->query($sql) === TRUE) {
    echo "User deleted successfully";
} else {
    echo "Error deleting user: " . $conn->error;
}

// Close the database connection
$conn->close();
?>