title: Error: The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead
body: <p>I'm getting this error from a PHP file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here's a copy of the relevant code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  $con = mysql_connect("localhost","username","password");
  if (!$con) {
    die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }
  
  mysql_select_db("database_name", $con);
  
  $result = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `tbltodolist` WHERE status = 'Pending'");
  $row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
  $total = $row[0];
  
  echo $total;
  
  mysql_close($con);
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there any simple way to switch this to using mysqli to avoid the error?</p>