How can PHP developers efficiently handle and manipulate user input data?

PHP developers can efficiently handle and manipulate user input data by using functions like `htmlspecialchars()` to prevent cross-site scripting attacks, `trim()` to remove leading and trailing whitespace, and `filter_var()` to validate input data. It's also important to sanitize input data before using it in SQL queries to prevent SQL injection attacks.

// Example of handling user input data in PHP
$userInput = $_POST['user_input'];

// Sanitize user input data
$cleanInput = htmlspecialchars(trim($userInput));

// Validate input data
if(filter_var($cleanInput, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
    echo "Valid email address: " . $cleanInput;
} else {
    echo "Invalid email address";
}