What is the best approach to handle SQL statements and function returns in PHP?

When handling SQL statements in PHP, it is best to use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, it is important to properly handle function returns to ensure that the data is processed correctly. This can be done by checking the return value of functions and handling any errors that may occur.

// Example of handling SQL statements and function returns in PHP

// Connect to the database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

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

// Prepare and execute a SQL statement using prepared statements
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $username);

$username = "example_user";
$stmt->execute();

$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Handle function returns
if($result->num_rows > 0) {
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
        echo "Username: " . $row["username"] . "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "No results found.";
}

// Close the connection
$stmt->close();
$conn->close();