Learn how to fetch rows from a MySQL database and display them in a well-formatted HTML table using PDO in PHP.
📌 Why Display Data in a Table?
Displaying database content in an HTML table is essential for dashboards, reports, admin panels, and user interfaces. It's the most effective way to visualize tabular data.
🔌 Connect to the Database
<?php $pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=demo", "user", "pass"); $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); ?>📄 Fetch and Display Data
<?php $stmt = $pdo->query("SELECT id, username, email FROM users"); $rows = $stmt->fetchAll(); ?> <table border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0"> <thead> <tr> <th>ID</th> <th>Username</th> <th>Email</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <?php foreach ($rows as $row): ?> <tr> <td><?= htmlspecialchars($row['id']) ?></td> <td><?= htmlspecialchars($row['username']) ?></td> <td><?= htmlspecialchars($row['email']) ?></td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> </tbody> </table>✅ Best Practices
- Always use
htmlspecialchars()when outputting user data - Use CSS to improve table appearance
- Consider paginating large datasets
🧾 Summary
Displaying MySQL data in an HTML table is simple with PDO and PHP. With secure coding practices and a bit of styling, you can make your tables look professional and easy to use.