What are the potential pitfalls of using SELECT * in a MySQL query when fetching data for display in a dropdown list?

Using SELECT * in a MySQL query when fetching data for display in a dropdown list can lead to performance issues and potential security vulnerabilities. It is better to explicitly specify the columns you need to fetch to reduce the amount of data retrieved and improve query performance. Additionally, selecting only the necessary columns can help prevent exposing sensitive information in the dropdown list. 

// Specify the columns to fetch in the MySQL query
$sql = "SELECT id, name FROM table_name";

// Execute the query and fetch the results
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $sql);

// Display the dropdown list using the fetched data
echo "<select>";
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo "<option value='" . $row['id'] . "'>" . $row['name'] . "</option>";
}
echo "</select>";

Keywords

SELECT * MySQL query data fetching dropdown list potential pitfalls

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