What are common pitfalls to avoid when implementing a feature like combinable search filters in PHP?

One common pitfall to avoid when implementing combinable search filters in PHP is not properly sanitizing and validating user input. This can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, always sanitize and validate user input before using it in database queries.

// Example of sanitizing and validating user input for combinable search filters
$searchTerm = isset($_GET['search']) ? filter_var($_GET['search'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING) : '';

// Use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM products WHERE name LIKE :searchTerm");
$stmt->bindValue(':searchTerm', '%'.$searchTerm.'%', PDO::PARAM_STR);
$stmt->execute();
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();