PDOStatement::bindParam versus PDOStatement::bindValue

[ravinggenius]

Is there any kind of rule as to which one I should use? Can anybody explain the differences to me?

[ridiculous]

I just started working with PDO the other day and went through this.

 

I don't think there is any kind of performance difference between the two...just that one is more spelled out in appearance than the other.

[ravinggenius]

I haven't been able to tell a difference, but I'm using bindParam for UPDATE or INSERT values and bindValue for WHERE clauses. Hopefully that's what the developers had in mind....

[mtarroyo]

If you use PDOStatement::bindParam() to replace the parameter marks, the variables are passed by reference and if there are any return value, they will fill the variables. So, you can pass only variable containers. Like this:

 

$stmt->bindParam(1, $name);

 

Because strings cannot be passed by reference.

 

Using PDOStatement::bindValue() the values are not passed by reference and you can do things like that:

 

$stmt->bindValue(1, 'Mario');