Are there any potential security risks associated with using PHP variables in URLs?

Using PHP variables directly in URLs can pose security risks such as SQL injection attacks or cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. To mitigate these risks, it is important to properly sanitize and validate any user input before using it in a URL.

// Sanitize and validate user input before using it in a URL
$user_input = $_GET['user_input']; // Assuming user input is passed through the URL

// Sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection
$user_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);

// Validate user input to prevent XSS attacks
$user_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input);

// Use the sanitized and validated user input in the URL
$url = "https://example.com/page.php?user_input=" . $user_input;