What are some best practices for optimizing database queries and overall website performance in PHP?

To optimize database queries and overall website performance in PHP, it is important to minimize the number of queries executed, use indexes on frequently accessed columns, cache query results, and avoid unnecessary data retrieval.

// Example of optimizing database queries by caching query results

// Connect to the database
$connection = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'database');

// Check if data is already cached
$cacheKey = 'cached_data';
$cachedData = apc_fetch($cacheKey);

if (!$cachedData) {
    // Query the database if data is not cached
    $query = "SELECT * FROM table";
    $result = $connection->query($query);

    // Cache the query results
    $cachedData = $result->fetch_all(MYSQLI_ASSOC);
    apc_store($cacheKey, $cachedData);
}

// Use the cached data
foreach ($cachedData as $row) {
    // Process data
}

// Close the database connection
$connection->close();