How can PHP beginners ensure that special characters in textareas are properly formatted when submitted through a form?

Special characters in textareas can be properly formatted by using the `htmlspecialchars()` function in PHP before storing the input in a database or displaying it on a webpage. This function converts special characters like < and > into their HTML entity equivalents, preventing any potential security vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

// Ensure special characters are properly formatted in textarea input
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    $textarea_input = htmlspecialchars($_POST["textarea_input"]);
    
    // Store or display the sanitized input as needed
}