In what situations should SELECT * be avoided in PHP when querying a database?

Using SELECT * should be avoided in PHP when querying a database because it can fetch unnecessary columns, leading to increased memory usage and slower query performance. It is recommended to explicitly specify the columns you need in the SELECT statement to improve query efficiency and reduce the risk of fetching sensitive data unintentionally. 

// Avoid using SELECT * and explicitly specify the columns needed in the query
$query = "SELECT column1, column2, column3 FROM table_name WHERE condition = 'value'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Fetch data from the result set
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Process the data
}

Keywords

SELECT * database query performance optimization SQL injection security vulnerability

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