Can PHP PDO Prepared Statements Handle Dynamic Table and Column Names as Parameters?

PHP PDO Statement Parameter Limitations: Table and Column Names

Prepared statements in PHP Data Objects (PDO) provide enhanced security by preventing SQL injection attacks. However, it is not possible to dynamically pass table or column names as parameters to prepared statements.

Why Limitations Exist

PDO's prepared statements are designed to ensure that all user input is validated before being executed as SQL queries. Allowing table or column names to be parameters would create a security loophole because malicious users could potentially manipulate the query and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Alternative Solution

To safely insert a table name into an SQL query, you should manually filter and sanitize the data. One approach is to use a switch() statement to create a whitelist of allowed table names:

function buildQuery($get_var) {
    switch ($get_var) {
        case 1:
            $tbl = 'users';
            break;
        default:
            throw new Exception('Invalid table name');
    }

    $sql = "SELECT * FROM $tbl";
}

By using this method, you can ensure that only user input that matches the expected values can be used in the query. This approach prevents potential security vulnerabilities while still maintaining the benefits of prepared statements.

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