Why is using Prepared Statements recommended over manually sanitizing user input in PHP?
Using Prepared Statements is recommended over manually sanitizing user input in PHP because Prepared Statements automatically handle escaping and quoting of user input, preventing SQL injection attacks. This method separates the SQL query logic from the user input, making the code more readable and maintainable.
// Using Prepared Statements to prevent SQL injection
// Establish a database connection
$pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase', 'username', 'password');
// Prepare a SQL statement with a placeholder for user input
$stmt = $pdo->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username');
// Bind the user input to the placeholder
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $_POST['username']);
// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();
// Fetch the results
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();