Why should the use of SELECT * in SQL queries be avoided?

Using SELECT * in SQL queries should be avoided because it can lead to performance issues and unnecessary data retrieval. It is better to explicitly specify the columns you need in the SELECT statement to improve query performance and reduce the amount of data transferred between the database and the application. 

// Specify the columns you need in the SELECT statement instead of using SELECT *
$query = "SELECT column1, column2, column3 FROM table_name WHERE condition = value";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

if (mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0) {
    while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
        // Process the retrieved data
    }
} else {
    echo "No results found.";
}

Keywords

SQL SELECT * performance security optimization

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