What are some common best practices for handling form data in PHP to avoid errors like the ones mentioned in the thread?
One common best practice for handling form data in PHP is to sanitize and validate user input to prevent errors like SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. Another best practice is to use prepared statements when interacting with a database to avoid SQL injection vulnerabilities. Additionally, always validate and sanitize user input before processing or displaying it to ensure data integrity and security.
// Sanitize and validate form data before processing
$name = isset($_POST['name']) ? filter_var($_POST['name'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING) : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) : '';
// Use prepared statements to interact with the database
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (:name, :email)");
$stmt->bindParam(':name', $name);
$stmt->bindParam(':email', $email);
$stmt->execute();