How important is it to properly identify and retrieve data using unique identifiers like IDs when working with PHP and SQL for news archives?

It is crucial to properly identify and retrieve data using unique identifiers like IDs when working with PHP and SQL for news archives to ensure accurate and efficient data retrieval. Unique identifiers help avoid data duplication and ensure data integrity in the database.

// Retrieve news article using unique ID
$id = $_GET['id'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM news_articles WHERE id = $id";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

if(mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0) {
    $article = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
    // Display article content
} else {
    echo "Article not found";
}