In terms of best practices, what are some recommended ways to handle user permissions and access control in PHP applications?

One recommended way to handle user permissions and access control in PHP applications is to use role-based access control (RBAC). This involves assigning roles to users and defining permissions for each role, allowing for granular control over what actions users can perform within the application.

// Example of implementing RBAC in PHP

// Define roles and their corresponding permissions
$roles = [
    'admin' => ['create_user', 'edit_user', 'delete_user'],
    'editor' => ['edit_post', 'delete_post'],
    'user' => ['view_post']
];

// Check if a user has permission to perform a certain action
function hasPermission($role, $permission) {
    global $roles;
    
    if (isset($roles[$role]) && in_array($permission, $roles[$role])) {
        return true;
    }
    
    return false;
}

// Example usage
$userRole = 'admin';
$action = 'delete_user';

if (hasPermission($userRole, $action)) {
    echo 'User has permission to ' . $action;
} else {
    echo 'User does not have permission to ' . $action;
}