How can PHP developers ensure proper data validation and sanitization when interacting with MySQL databases?
To ensure proper data validation and sanitization when interacting with MySQL databases, PHP developers should use prepared statements with parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, input data should be validated and sanitized using PHP functions like htmlspecialchars() or filter_var() before being sent to the database.
// Establish a connection to the MySQL database
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');
// Prepare a SQL statement with a parameterized query
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('INSERT INTO users (username, email) VALUES (:username, :email)');
// Validate and sanitize input data
$username = filter_var($_POST['username'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email = filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
// Bind parameters to the prepared statement and execute it
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':email', $email);
$stmt->execute();