What common mistakes should PHP beginners be aware of when working with databases?

One common mistake PHP beginners make when working with databases is not sanitizing user input, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To prevent this, always use prepared statements or parameterized queries to safely execute SQL queries with user input.

// Example of using prepared statements to safely execute SQL queries with user input
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();