How should passwords be securely stored and compared in PHP applications, according to best practices?

Passwords should be securely stored in PHP applications by using a strong hashing algorithm like bcrypt to hash the passwords before storing them in the database. When comparing passwords, the stored hashed password should be retrieved from the database and then compared to the user input using the password_verify function provided by PHP. 

// Hash and store password
$password = 'user_password';
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Store $hashed_password in the database

// Compare passwords
$user_input_password = 'user_input_password';

if (password_verify($user_input_password, $hashed_password)) {
    // Passwords match
    echo 'Password is correct';
} else {
    // Passwords do not match
    echo 'Password is incorrect';
}

Keywords

password hashing password_verify password_hash bcrypt salting

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