How can htmlspecialchars() be used to prevent XSS attacks when processing user input in PHP forms?

To prevent XSS attacks when processing user input in PHP forms, you can use the htmlspecialchars() function to convert special characters to their HTML entities. This will ensure that any user input containing potentially harmful HTML or JavaScript code is rendered harmless when displayed on a webpage. 

// Example of using htmlspecialchars() to prevent XSS attacks
$user_input = $_POST['user_input']; // Assuming user input is received via a form

// Sanitize user input using htmlspecialchars()
$sanitized_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');

// Display the sanitized input on the webpage
echo $sanitized_input;

Keywords

htmlspecialchars XSS attacks user input PHP forms processing.

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