What are the best practices for handling string values in SQL queries to prevent syntax errors in PHP?

When handling string values in SQL queries in PHP, it is important to properly escape the strings to prevent SQL injection attacks and syntax errors. One of the best practices is to use prepared statements with parameterized queries, which automatically handle the escaping of special characters in the input values. This approach helps to ensure the security and integrity of the SQL queries. 

// Using prepared statements with parameterized queries to handle string values safely
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test', 'username', 'password');

// Sample query with a string parameter
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');
$username = $_POST['username']; // Assuming the username is coming from a form input
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username, PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch and loop through the results
while ($row = $stmt->fetch()) {
    // Handle the results
}

Keywords

SQL injection prepared statements mysqli_real_escape_string PDO error handling

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