What are the implications of not converting JSON strings to arrays in PHP when dealing with complex JSON structures in MySQL queries?

When dealing with complex JSON structures in MySQL queries in PHP, not converting JSON strings to arrays can lead to difficulties in accessing and manipulating the data. To solve this issue, you should decode the JSON string into an array using the `json_decode()` function before using it in your MySQL queries.

// Sample JSON string
$jsonString = '{"name": "John Doe", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}';

// Convert JSON string to array
$dataArray = json_decode($jsonString, true);

// Now you can access the data as an array
$name = $dataArray['name'];
$age = $dataArray['age'];
$city = $dataArray['city'];

// Use the array in your MySQL query
$query = "INSERT INTO users (name, age, city) VALUES ('$name', $age, '$city')";