How can PHP developers ensure efficient and secure database access while minimizing connection overhead?

PHP developers can ensure efficient and secure database access while minimizing connection overhead by using connection pooling. Connection pooling allows multiple PHP scripts to share a pool of open database connections, reducing the overhead of opening and closing connections for each script. This can improve performance and scalability while also preventing unnecessary strain on the database server.

// Using connection pooling to minimize connection overhead
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$database = "dbname";

// Create a connection pool
$connectionPool = new mysqli_pool($servername, $username, $password, $database);

// Get a connection from the pool
$connection = $connectionPool->get_connection();

// Use the connection for database queries
$result = $connection->query("SELECT * FROM table");

// Release the connection back to the pool
$connectionPool->release_connection($connection);