What is the significance of specifying column names in a SELECT statement instead of using SELECT * in PHP?

Specifying column names in a SELECT statement instead of using SELECT * in PHP is significant because it allows for better control over the data being retrieved from the database. By explicitly stating the column names, you can improve performance by only selecting the necessary data and avoid fetching unnecessary columns. Additionally, it can make the code more readable and maintainable as it clearly defines which columns are being retrieved. 

// Specify column names in the SELECT statement
$sql = "SELECT column1, column2, column3 FROM table_name";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $sql);

if (mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0) {
    while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
        // Access data using column names
        echo $row['column1'] . " " . $row['column2'] . " " . $row['column3'] . "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "No results found";
}

Keywords

SELECT statement column names PHP database query performance.

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