How can PHP be utilized to efficiently handle form data submission and error validation in web development projects?

When handling form data submission and error validation in web development projects, PHP can be utilized to efficiently process the form inputs, validate them for correctness, and display error messages if necessary. By using PHP functions such as isset() to check if form fields are submitted and empty(), trim() to remove whitespace, and filter_input() to sanitize input data, developers can ensure that the data is clean and secure before further processing.

<?php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    $name = isset($_POST['name']) ? trim($_POST['name']) : '';
    
    if (empty($name)) {
        $nameErr = "Name is required";
    } else {
        // Process the form data
    }
}
?>

<form method="post" action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]); ?>">
    Name: <input type="text" name="name">
    <span class="error"><?php echo $nameErr; ?></span>
    <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>