Database basics in PHP

A database is a collection of organized data that is stored and accessed electronically. PHP is a popular server-side scripting language that is commonly used to interact with databases.

In PHP, there are various extensions and libraries available to work with different types of databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and SQLite. To interact with a database in PHP, you first need to establish a connection to the database server using functions like mysqli_connect() or PDO.

Once you have established a connection, you can use SQL statements to manipulate the data in the database. Common SQL statements include SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE. You can execute SQL queries using functions like mysqli_query() or PDO::query().

In addition to executing SQL queries, PHP also provides functions for retrieving data from the database and displaying it on web pages. This can be done using techniques such as fetching data into arrays or objects, or using template engines like Smarty or Twig.

Overall, working with databases in PHP requires a basic understanding of SQL, database design, and the PHP database libraries available.