PHP: MySQLi connection template

gistfile1.php

<?php
/* CONFIG */

define("DB_HOST", "localhost");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASS", "");
define("DB_DATABASE", "my_db");

/* CONNECTION */

$link = @mysqli_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_DATABASE);

if (!$link) {
    die('Connect Error (' . mysqli_connect_errno() . ') '
            . mysqli_connect_error());
}
/* change character set to utf8 */
if (!mysqli_set_charset($link, "utf8"))
    printf("Error loading character set utf8: %s\n", mysqli_error($link));

/* CLOSE CONNECTION */
mysqli_close($link);