How can the use of outdated MySQL functions in PHP lead to errors or security vulnerabilities?

Using outdated MySQL functions in PHP can lead to errors or security vulnerabilities because these functions are deprecated and may not be supported in newer versions of PHP. This can result in compatibility issues and potential security risks due to lack of updates and patches. To solve this issue, it is recommended to use MySQLi or PDO extensions for database interactions in PHP, as they provide improved security features and support for modern database operations.

// Using MySQLi extension to connect to MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$database = "dbname";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $database);

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