What are the consequences of using deprecated mysql_* functions in PHP 7?

Using deprecated mysql_* functions in PHP 7 can lead to security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues with newer versions of PHP. It is recommended to switch to mysqli or PDO for database operations.

// Connect to database using mysqli
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Check connection
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $mysqli->connect_error);
}