What are the recommended methods for listing and selecting specific columns in a SELECT statement in PHP to avoid conflicts and ensure accurate data retrieval?

When listing and selecting specific columns in a SELECT statement in PHP, it is important to ensure that the column names are unique and do not conflict with each other. One way to achieve this is by using table aliases to differentiate columns from different tables. Additionally, using the AS keyword can help rename columns for clarity and to avoid conflicts.

// Example of listing and selecting specific columns with table aliases and column renaming
$query = "SELECT t1.id AS table1_id, t2.name AS table2_name 
          FROM table1 t1 
          JOIN table2 t2 ON t1.id = t2.id";

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

// Loop through the results and access the selected columns by their aliases
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    echo $row['table1_id'] . " - " . $row['table2_name'] . "<br>";
}