In PHP, what are the advantages of using field names ($daten['user']) instead of numerical indexes ($daten[x]) when fetching data from a SQL query?

When fetching data from a SQL query in PHP, using field names ($daten['user']) instead of numerical indexes ($daten[x]) provides better readability and maintainability to the code. Field names make it easier to understand the data being fetched and reduce the chances of errors when accessing specific values. Additionally, if the SQL query changes and the order of columns is altered, using field names ensures that the correct data is still fetched. 

// Fetching data using field names
$sql = "SELECT user, email, age FROM users";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
    while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        echo "User: " . $row['user'] . " - Email: " . $row['email'] . " - Age: " . $row['age'] . "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}

Keywords

PHP field names numerical indexes SQL query data fetching

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