What are some common pitfalls when using PHP for database queries?

One common pitfall when using PHP for database queries is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, always use prepared statements with parameterized queries to securely pass user input to the database.

// Example of using prepared statements with parameterized queries
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();