How can PHP developers ensure that POST values are properly sanitized and validated before processing them in a script?

PHP developers can ensure that POST values are properly sanitized and validated before processing them by using functions like filter_input() with FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING or FILTER_VALIDATE_INT filters to sanitize and validate the input data. Additionally, developers can use functions like htmlspecialchars() to prevent XSS attacks by escaping special characters in the input data. 

// Sanitize and validate POST values
$username = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'username', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
$password = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'password', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Escape special characters to prevent XSS attacks
$username = htmlspecialchars($username);
$email = htmlspecialchars($email);
$password = htmlspecialchars($password);

// Process the sanitized and validated data
// (e.g., store it in a database, send an email, etc.)

Keywords

filter_input filter_var htmlspecialchars htmlentities validation

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