What are common mistakes to avoid when assigning values to variables in PHP, especially when dealing with HTML code?

When assigning values to variables in PHP, especially when dealing with HTML code, it's important to properly escape the values to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. One common mistake is not using functions like htmlspecialchars() or htmlentities() to encode special characters in the HTML output. By escaping the values, you ensure that any user input is treated as plain text and not as executable code. 

// Incorrect way of assigning a value to a variable without proper escaping
$name = $_POST['name'];

// Correct way of assigning a value to a variable with proper escaping
$name = htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']);

Keywords

PHP variable assignment HTML code syntax errors data sanitization

Related Questions