Are there any potential pitfalls to be aware of when creating and writing to PHP files on a server?

One potential pitfall when creating and writing to PHP files on a server is the risk of exposing sensitive information or opening up security vulnerabilities if proper precautions are not taken. To mitigate this risk, always sanitize user input, validate data, and restrict file permissions to prevent unauthorized access.

<?php
// Example of sanitizing user input before writing to a PHP file
$userInput = $_POST['user_input'];
$cleanInput = filter_var($userInput, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Example of validating data before writing to a PHP file
if (strlen($cleanInput) > 0) {
    // Write data to file
    file_put_contents('example.php', $cleanInput);
} else {
    echo "Invalid input";
}