How can PHP beginners avoid common pitfalls when using the MySQL insert command?

One common pitfall when using the MySQL insert command in PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To avoid this, beginners should use prepared statements with parameterized queries to securely insert data into the database.

// Example of using prepared statements with parameterized queries to safely insert data into a MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "myDB";

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

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

// Prepare and bind statement
$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO MyGuests (firstname, lastname, email) VALUES (?, ?, ?)");
$stmt->bind_param("sss", $firstname, $lastname, $email);

// Set parameters and execute
$firstname = "John";
$lastname = "Doe";
$email = "john.doe@example.com";
$stmt->execute();

echo "New records created successfully";

$stmt->close();
$conn->close();