Why is PDO better for escaping MySQL queries/querystrings than mysql_real_escape_string?

Question

I've been told that I'd be better using PDO for MySQL escaping, rather than mysql_real_escape_string.

Maybe I'm having a brain-dead day (or it may be the fact I'm by no stretch of the imagination a natural programmer, and I'm still very much at the newbie stage when it comes to PHP), but having checked out the PHP manual and read the entry on PDO, I'm still no clearer as to what PDO actually is and why it's better than using mysql_real_escape_string. This may be because I've not really got to grips with the complexities of OOP yet (I'm assuming it's something to do with OOP), but other than the fact that variables and array values seem to have a colon infront of them, I'm still not sure what it actually is and how you use it (and why it's better than mysql_real_escape_string. (It also may have something to do with the fact that I don't really have a clear understanding of what 'classes' are, so when I read "PDO class" I'm none the wiser really).

Having read an article or two on the 'Developer Zone' bit of the MySQL website, I'm still no clearer. As I can't even figure out what it is at the moment, I think probably using it is a bit beyond me right now, but I'm still interested in broadening my education and finding out how I could improve things.

Could anyone explain to me in 'plain English' what PDO is (or point me in the direction of something on the subject written in plain English), and how you'd go about using it?

Answer 1

As the current answers go into details while your question is more aimed at a general overview, I'll give it a try:

The PDO classes aim to encapsulate all the functionality needed to interact with a database. They do this by defining 'methods' (OO parlor for functions) and 'properties' (OO parlor for variables). You'd use them as a complete replacement for all the 'standard' functions you are using now for talking to a database.

So instead of calling a series of the 'mysql_doSomething()' functions, storing their results in your own variables, you would 'instantiate' an object from the PDO class ('class' = abstract definition, 'object' = concrete, usable instance of a class) and call methods on that object to do the same.

As an example, without PDO, you'd do something like this:

// Get a db connection
$connection = mysql_connect('someHost/someDB', 'userName', 'password');
// Prepare a query
$query = "SELECT * FROM someTable WHERE something = " . mysql_real_escape_string($comparison) . "'";
// Issue a query
$db_result = mysql_query($query);
// Fetch the results
$results = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($db_result)) {
  $results[] = $row;
}

while this would be the equivalent using PDO:

// Instantiate new PDO object (will create connection on the fly)
$db = new PDO('mysql:dbname=someDB;host=someHost');
// Prepare a query (will escape on the fly)
$statement = $db->prepare('SELECT * FROM someTable WHERE something = :comparison');
// $statement is now a PDOStatement object, with its own methods to use it, e.g.
// execute the query, passing in the parameters to replace
$statement->execute(array(':comparison' => $comparison));
// fetch results as array
$results = $statement->fetchAll();

So on first glance, there is not much difference, except in syntax. But the PDO version has some advantages, the biggest one being database independence:

If you need to talk to a PostgreSQL database instead, you'd only change mysql:to pgsql: in the instantiating call new PDO(). With the old method, you'd have to go through all your code, replacing all 'mysql_doSomething()' functions with their 'pg_doSomthing()' counterpart (always checking for potential differences in parameter handling). The same would be the case for many other supported database engines.

So to get back to your question, PDO basically just gives you a different way to achieve the same things, while offering some shortcuts/improvements/advantages. For example, escaping would happen automatically in the proper way needed for the database engine you are using. Also parameter substitution (prevents SQL Injections, not shown in example) is much easier, making it less error prone.

You should read up on some OOP basics to get an idea of other advantages.