In this tutorial, you will learn how to use PHP to connect to a MySQL database and execute queries to retrieve and manipulate data.



PHP is a popular programming language used in web development to interact with databases. If you want to use PHP to connect to a MySQL database, there are a few steps you need to follow.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following requirements:

  • A running MySQL server
  • A database that you want to connect to
  • PHP installed on your machine

Establishing a Connection

To connect to a MySQL database using PHP, you must use the mysqli_connect function. This function takes four parameters: the server hostname, the username, the password, and the database name. For example:

$conn = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'database_name');

The mysqli_connect function will return a connection resource if the connection is successful, or false if the connection fails.

It's a good idea to check the return value of the mysqli_connect function and handle any errors that may occur. You could do this using the mysqli_connect_error function, which returns the error message if a connection error occurred. For example:

if (!$conn) {
    die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
}

Executing Queries

Once you connect to the MySQL server, you can use the mysqli_query function to execute SQL statements and retrieve data from the database. For example:

$result = mysqli_query($conn, 'SELECT * FROM users');

The mysqli_query function returns a result set if the query was successful or false if the query failed.

To retrieve the data from the result set, you can use functions like mysqli_fetch_assoc, which returns an associative array of the current row. You can loop through the result set using a while loop until no more rows are left. For example:

while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Do something with the row data
}

It's also a good idea to check the return value of the mysqli_query function and handle any possible errors. You can do this using the mysqli_error function, which returns the error message if a query error occurs. For example:

if (!$result) {
    die("Query failed: " . mysqli_error($conn));
}

Closing the Connection

When you're done using the connection to the MySQL server, closing it to free up resources is a good idea. You can do this using the mysqli_close function:

mysqli_close($conn);


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