What are some best practices for handling parameter passing in PHP programs that communicate with MySQL databases?

When passing parameters in PHP programs that communicate with MySQL databases, it is best practice to use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. Prepared statements separate SQL logic from user input, ensuring that input values are treated as data rather than executable code. This helps to protect the database from malicious input.

// Establish a connection to the MySQL database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Prepare a SQL statement with a placeholder for the parameter
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM table WHERE column = ?");

// Bind the parameter to the placeholder in the statement
$stmt->bind_param("s", $parameter);

// Set the value of the parameter
$parameter = "value";

// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Process the results
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Do something with the data
}

// Close the statement and the database connection
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();