What are the potential pitfalls of using the mysql_query function in PHP, as seen in the forum thread?

The potential pitfalls of using the mysql_query function in PHP include SQL injection vulnerabilities and deprecated functionality. To solve this issue, it is recommended to use parameterized queries with prepared statements or switch to using the improved MySQLi or PDO extensions in PHP.

// Using prepared statements with MySQLi
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);
$username = "example";
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    // Process the results
}
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();