How can PHP developers effectively troubleshoot issues related to outdated MySQL functions like mysql_connect and mysql_close?

The issue of outdated MySQL functions like mysql_connect and mysql_close can be solved by migrating to the newer MySQLi or PDO extension in PHP. This involves updating the codebase to use functions like mysqli_connect and mysqli_close or PDO objects for database connections.

// Connect to MySQL using MySQLi
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if (!$conn) {
    die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
}

// Close the connection
mysqli_close($conn);