What best practices should be followed when querying a MySQL database in PHP to prevent errors like the one described in the thread?

The issue described in the thread is likely caused by not properly escaping user input before using it in a MySQL query, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, it is important to use prepared statements with parameterized queries when querying a MySQL database in PHP. This helps to sanitize user input and prevent SQL injection vulnerabilities. 

// Establish a connection to the MySQL database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Check for connection errors
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $mysqli->connect_error);
}

// Prepare a parameterized query to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);

// Sanitize user input
$username = $_POST['username'];

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

// Bind the result
$stmt->bind_result($result);

// Fetch the result
$stmt->fetch();

// Close the statement and the connection
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();

Keywords

MySQL PHP query error handling security

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