What are the benefits of using prepared statements in PHP to prevent SQL injections?

SQL injection is a common attack where malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution. Using prepared statements in PHP can help prevent SQL injections by separating SQL logic from user input. This technique uses placeholders for user input values, which are then bound to the statement before execution, ensuring that user input is treated as data rather than executable SQL code.

// Using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection in PHP
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username AND password = :password");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':password', $password);
$stmt->execute();