How can user input be protected from being altered in PHP forms?

To protect user input from being altered in PHP forms, you can use functions like htmlspecialchars() to convert special characters to HTML entities, preventing any malicious code injection. Additionally, you can validate user input using regular expressions or PHP filters to ensure it meets the expected format. Finally, consider using prepared statements when interacting with a database to prevent SQL injection attacks.

$userInput = $_POST['user_input'];
$cleanInput = htmlspecialchars($userInput);
// Validate input further if needed