What is the purpose of using the IN clause in PHP MySQL queries and what potential pitfalls should be avoided?

When using the IN clause in PHP MySQL queries, the purpose is to specify multiple values in a WHERE clause to retrieve rows that match any of those values. This can help simplify queries and reduce the number of individual queries needed. However, a potential pitfall to avoid is ensuring that the values passed into the IN clause are properly sanitized to prevent SQL injection attacks.

// Example of using the IN clause with sanitized values
$ids = [1, 2, 3]; // Values to be used in the IN clause
$placeholders = implode(',', array_fill(0, count($ids), '?')); // Create placeholders for values
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE id IN ($placeholders)"; // Query with placeholders
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$stmt->execute($ids); // Bind and execute the query with sanitized values