What are the potential pitfalls of using SELECT * in a query when fetching data in PHP?

Using SELECT * in a query when fetching data in PHP can lead to performance issues and unnecessary data transfer. It is better to explicitly specify the columns you need to retrieve to avoid fetching more data than necessary. This can also help improve code readability and reduce the risk of potential errors in the future. 

// Specify the columns you want to retrieve instead of using SELECT *
$query = "SELECT column1, column2, column3 FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Fetch data from the result
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Process the data here
}

Keywords

SELECT * query data fetching performance security

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