What are common mistakes beginners make when using PHP?

One common mistake beginners make when using PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, always use functions like `mysqli_real_escape_string()` or prepared statements to sanitize user input before using it in database queries.

// Example of sanitizing user input using mysqli_real_escape_string()
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$clean_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$clean_input'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);