What are the drawbacks of using the mysql_* functions in PHP and what alternatives are recommended?

Using the mysql_* functions in PHP is discouraged because they are deprecated and removed in newer PHP versions, making your code vulnerable to security risks and compatibility issues. It is recommended to use MySQLi (MySQL Improved) or PDO (PHP Data Objects) extensions for database operations in PHP. 

// Using MySQLi extension
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

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

// Using PDO extension
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=database", "username", "password");

Keywords

mysql_ functions drawbacks alternatives PHP mysqli PDO

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