What are some common errors encountered when using PHP forms and how can they be avoided?

One common error when using PHP forms is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To avoid this, always use functions like htmlspecialchars() or mysqli_real_escape_string() to sanitize user input before using it in your application.

// Sanitize user input using htmlspecialchars()
$name = htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']);
$email = htmlspecialchars($_POST['email']);

// Sanitize user input using mysqli_real_escape_string()
$conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "username", "password", "dbname");
$name = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['name']);
$email = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['email']);