How can PHP developers ensure the security of their applications when interacting with databases?

To ensure the security of PHP applications when interacting with databases, developers should use parameterized queries or prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. This involves binding user input to query parameters rather than directly inserting it into the SQL query. This helps to sanitize user input and prevent malicious SQL code from being executed. 

// Example of using prepared statements to interact with a database securely

// Establish a database connection
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase", "username", "password");

// Prepare a SQL statement with a placeholder for user input
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");

// Bind user input to the prepared statement
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);

// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();

Keywords

SQL injection prepared statements PDO parameterized queries data validation

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