How can PHP developers handle special characters in text inputs to prevent data storage issues?
Special characters in text inputs can cause data storage issues if not properly handled. PHP developers can prevent these issues by using the `mysqli_real_escape_string()` function to escape special characters before storing the data in the database. This function ensures that the special characters are treated as literal characters and not as part of the SQL query, thus preventing SQL injection attacks.
// Assuming $conn is the mysqli connection object
$text_input = $_POST['text_input'];
$escaped_text_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $text_input);
// Now $escaped_text_input can be safely stored in the database