How can PHP developers efficiently debug and test scripts that interact with MySQL databases?

PHP developers can efficiently debug and test scripts that interact with MySQL databases by using tools like Xdebug for debugging and PHPUnit for testing. They can also utilize error reporting functions in PHP to catch any issues that arise during development. Additionally, using a local development environment like XAMPP or WAMP can help simulate the production environment for testing purposes.

<?php
// Enable error reporting for debugging
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

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

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

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