What are common pitfalls when integrating PHP code with HTML elements like input fields?

One common pitfall when integrating PHP code with HTML input fields 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 `htmlspecialchars()` to sanitize user input before displaying it in HTML elements.

<?php
// Get user input from a form field
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];

// Sanitize user input before displaying it in an input field
$sanitized_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input);
?>

<input type="text" name="user_input" value="<?php echo $sanitized_input; ?>">