What are common pitfalls to avoid when implementing input validation in PHP scripts to ensure data integrity?

One common pitfall to avoid when implementing input validation in PHP scripts is not using proper sanitization techniques to prevent SQL injection attacks. To ensure data integrity, always sanitize user input using functions like mysqli_real_escape_string or prepared statements before processing it in your script. 

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

Keywords

SQL injection Cross-site scripting (XSS) htmlspecialchars filter_var validation errors

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