In the context of PHP and MySQL, what best practices should be followed when updating data in a database based on form submissions?

When updating data in a database based on form submissions in PHP and MySQL, it is important to sanitize and validate user input to prevent SQL injection and other security vulnerabilities. Additionally, it is recommended to use prepared statements to safely execute SQL queries and prevent against SQL injection attacks.

<?php
// Assuming form submission data is received and stored in variables
$id = $_POST['id'];
$newValue = $_POST['new_value'];

// Connect to MySQL database
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=database_name', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare SQL statement with placeholders
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("UPDATE table_name SET column_name = :new_value WHERE id = :id");

// Bind parameters and execute the statement
$stmt->bindParam(':new_value', $newValue);
$stmt->bindParam(':id', $id);
$stmt->execute();

// Close the database connection
$pdo = null;
?>