What are the benefits of using Prepared Statements over functions like htmlspecialchars and strip_tags in PHP for database interactions?

Using Prepared Statements is a more secure way to interact with a database compared to functions like htmlspecialchars and strip_tags. Prepared Statements separate SQL logic from user input, preventing SQL injection attacks. This method also handles escaping characters and data types automatically, reducing the risk of errors in the database queries.

// Using Prepared Statements to interact with a database
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();