What are the potential issues with using outdated mysql_* functions in PHP for database connections?

Using outdated mysql_* functions in PHP for database connections can lead to security vulnerabilities and deprecated functionality. It is recommended to switch to newer mysqli or PDO extensions to ensure better security, performance, and compatibility with the latest PHP versions.

// Connect to MySQL using mysqli
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

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