What are common mistakes beginners make when trying to transfer form data to a MySQL database using PHP?

One common mistake beginners make when trying to transfer form data to a MySQL database using PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, always use prepared statements or parameterized queries to securely interact with the database.

// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Prepare a statement and bind parameters
$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2) VALUES (?, ?)");
$stmt->bind_param("ss", $value1, $value2);

// Set parameters and execute
$value1 = $_POST['input1'];
$value2 = $_POST['input2'];
$stmt->execute();

// Close statement and connection
$stmt->close();
$conn->close();