PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC, ]); // Create the database if it doesn't exist $pdo_temp->exec("CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `".DB_NAME."`"); // Now connect to the specific database $pdo = new PDO('mysql:host='.DB_HOST.';dbname='.DB_NAME.';charset=utf8mb4', DB_USER, DB_PASS, [ PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC, ]); } catch (PDOException $e) { // If connection fails, it might be a more serious issue die("Database connection failed: " . $e->getMessage()); } return $pdo; }