What are common mistakes beginners make when using PHP for form handling?

One common mistake beginners make when using PHP for form handling is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To solve this, always use functions like `htmlspecialchars()` or `mysqli_real_escape_string()` to sanitize user input before using it in queries or displaying it on the webpage. 

// Example of sanitizing user input using htmlspecialchars()
$name = htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']);
$email = htmlspecialchars($_POST['email']);
$message = htmlspecialchars($_POST['message']);

Keywords

validation security XSS error handling sanitization

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