Connecting to a Database via PDO

PDO (PHP Data Objects) is an interface for accessing various databases. Its greatest advantage is that it enables secure work with prepared statements and easy switching between different database types (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite).

PHP MySQLi

<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$database = "pdo_database";

try {
    // DSN (Data Source Name) specifies the database type and host
    $dsn = "mysql:host=$servername;dbname=$database;charset=utf8";
    
    // Creating a new PDO object
    $connection = new PDO($dsn, $username, $password);
    
    // Setting the error mode to exceptions
    $connection->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
    
    echo "PDO connection was successful!";
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    echo "Connection failed: " . $e->getMessage();
}

// Closing a connection in PDO
$connection = null;
?>

RESULT

NOTE: This simulator is intended exclusively for learning the basic PHP MySQLi syntax. To ensure speed and security, the simulator runs pre-defined SQL commands in a controlled environment in the background. If you wish to modify the code or build your own applications, we recommend doing so in your local development environment (e.g., XAMPP) using a real database.

PDO uses an object-oriented approach.
Supports Exceptions for better error handling.
Prepared statements protect against SQL injection.

Overview of Common PDO Operations

Below is a list of key commands in the PDO library. You will notice that the SQL logic remains the same as in MySQLi, but the way PHP "communicates" with the database is more modern and object-oriented.

Command / Method	How it works in PDO	Examples
PDO CONNECT	Establishing a connection using a DSN (Data Source Name).	See Example
CREATE DATABASE	Creates a new database using the exec() method.	See Example
CREATE TABLE	Creates a new table with defined columns.	See Example
INSERT INTO	Inserts a record using either exec() or prepare() methods.	See Example
LAST INSERT ID	Retrieves the ID of the last inserted record using lastInsertId().	See Example
PREPARED	Secure database interaction using named parameters (:name).	See Example
SELECT / FETCH	Fetches data and stores it into an Array.	See Example
WHERE	Filtering data based on specific conditions.	See Example
ORDER BY	Sorting results in a specific order.	See Example
DELETE	Deleting specific records from a table.	See Example
UPDATE	Updating existing rows within a table.	See Example
TRANSACTIONS	Advanced operations using beginTransaction, commit, and rollback.	See Example