Are there any specific PHP functions or methods recommended for processing form data to avoid vulnerabilities?

When processing form data in PHP, it is important to sanitize and validate user input to prevent common vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks. One recommended approach is to use functions like `filter_input()` and `htmlspecialchars()` to sanitize input and `preg_match()` to validate input against a specific pattern.

// Sanitize and validate form data
$username = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'username', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

if (!$username || !$email) {
    // Handle validation errors
} else {
    // Process the form data
}