What are the best practices for handling data processing and database queries in PHP to prevent SQL injection vulnerabilities?

SQL injection vulnerabilities can be prevented by using prepared statements with parameterized queries in PHP. This technique ensures that user input is treated as data rather than executable code, thereby protecting against malicious SQL injection attacks. Example PHP code snippet using prepared statements:

// Establish a database connection
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare a SQL statement with placeholders
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');

// Bind parameters to placeholders
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $_POST['username']);

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

// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

// Use the results as needed
foreach ($results as $row) {
    echo $row['username'] . '<br>';
}