Is it recommended to use SELECT * in SQL queries in PHP, and if not, what are the alternatives?

Using SELECT * in SQL queries is not recommended as it can retrieve unnecessary columns, leading to decreased performance and potential security risks. It is better to explicitly specify the columns you want to retrieve in the query. This not only improves performance but also makes the code more maintainable and secure. 

// Avoid using SELECT * in SQL queries
$query = "SELECT column1, column2 FROM table_name WHERE condition = 'value'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Process the query result
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Handle the retrieved data
}

Keywords

PHP SQL queries SELECT * alternatives performance

Related Questions