PDO Example

<?php
$servername = "mysql.hostinger.com";
$database = "uXXXXXXXXXX_name"; 
$username = "uXXXXXXXXXX_user";
$password = "buystuffpwd";
$sql = "mysql:host=$servername;dbname=$database;";
$dsn_Options = [PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION];

// Create a new connection to the MySQL database using PDO, $my_Db_Connection is an object
try { 
  $my_Db_Connection = new PDO($sql, $username, $password, $dsn_Options);
  echo "Connected successfully";
} catch (PDOException $error) {
  echo 'Connection error: ' . $error->getMessage();
}

// Set the variables for the person we want to add to the database
$first_Name = "Thom";
$last_Name = "Vial";
$email = "thom.v@some.com";

// Here we create a variable that calls the prepare() method of the database object
// The SQL query you want to run is entered as the parameter, and placeholders are written like this :placeholder_name
$my_Insert_Statement = $my_Db_Connection->prepare("INSERT INTO Students (name, lastname, email) VALUES (:first_name, :last_name, :email)");

// Now we tell the script which variable each placeholder actually refers to using the bindParam() method
// First parameter is the placeholder in the statement above - the second parameter is a variable that it should refer to
$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(:first_name, $first_Name);
$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(:last_name, $last_Name);
$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(:email, $email);

// Execute the query using the data we just defined
// The execute() method returns TRUE if it is successful and FALSE if it is not, allowing you to write your own messages here
if ($my_Insert_Statement->execute()) {
  echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
  echo "Unable to create record";
}

// At this point you can change the data of the variables and execute again to add more data to the database
$first_Name = "John";
$last_Name = "Smith";
$email = "john.smith@email.com";
$my_Insert_Statement->execute();

// Execute again now that the variables have changed
if ($my_Insert_Statement->execute()) {
  echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
  echo "Unable to create record";
}

I believe the bindparam section (shown here and here) should be:

$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(':first_name', $first_Name);
$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(':last_name', $last_Name);
$my_Insert_Statement->bindParam(':email', $email);

Without the quotes, the example was giving error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ':' on line 33

More info here.