What are the risks of building SQL queries dynamically in PHP, and how can these risks be mitigated to ensure data integrity and security?

Building SQL queries dynamically in PHP can expose your application to SQL injection attacks if proper precautions are not taken. To mitigate this risk, you should always use prepared statements with parameterized queries to ensure data integrity and security.

// Example of using prepared statements with parameterized queries to mitigate SQL injection risk

// Establish a database connection
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');

// Prepare a SQL statement with a placeholder for the parameter
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');

// Bind the parameter value to the placeholder
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);

// Execute the query
$stmt->execute();

// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();