What are the drawbacks of using the mysql_* functions in PHP for database operations?

The mysql_* functions in PHP are deprecated and have been removed as of PHP 7. They are not secure and are vulnerable to SQL injection attacks. It is recommended to use MySQLi or PDO for database operations in PHP to ensure better security and compatibility with newer PHP versions.

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

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

// Perform a query using prepared statements
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM table WHERE id = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("i", $id);
$id = 1;
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Fetch results
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Process rows
}

// Close connection
$mysqli->close();