What are some common pitfalls for beginners learning PHP and MySQL integration?

One common pitfall for beginners learning PHP and MySQL integration is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, always use prepared statements with parameterized queries when interacting with the database.

// Example of using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

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

// Prepare a SQL query with a parameter
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);

// Set the parameter and execute the query
$username = "example_user";
$stmt->execute();

// Process the results
$result = $stmt->get_result();
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Handle the data
}

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