Why is it recommended to avoid using the mysql_ functions in PHP and switch to PDO or mysqli?

It is recommended to avoid using the mysql_ functions in PHP because they are deprecated and no longer maintained, making them vulnerable to security risks and lacking support for newer features. It is better to switch to PDO or mysqli, which provide more secure and modern ways to interact with databases in PHP.

// Using PDO to connect to a MySQL database
$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase';
$username = 'username';
$password = 'password';

try {
    $pdo = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password);
    $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    die('Connection failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
}