What are some best practices for passing and handling parameters in a URL for PHP applications to ensure security and efficiency?

When passing parameters in a URL for PHP applications, it is important to sanitize and validate the input to prevent SQL injection, XSS attacks, and other security vulnerabilities. One best practice is to use PHP's built-in functions like htmlentities() or urlencode() to encode the parameters before appending them to the URL. Additionally, avoid passing sensitive information in the URL and consider using POST requests for more secure data transmission. 

// Sanitize and validate input parameters before using them in the URL
$param1 = htmlentities($_GET['param1']);
$param2 = urlencode($_GET['param2']);

// Use the sanitized parameters in the URL
$url = "example.com/page.php?param1=$param1&param2=$param2";

Keywords

URL parameters PHP applications security efficiency handling parameters

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