What are some potential pitfalls to avoid when manipulating string values in PHP?

One potential pitfall to avoid when manipulating string values in PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can leave your application vulnerable to security risks such as SQL injection attacks. To mitigate this risk, always use functions like `mysqli_real_escape_string` or prepared statements when dealing with user input that will be used in database queries. 

// Example of properly sanitizing user input before using it in a SQL query
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$sanitized_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);

$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$sanitized_input'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

Keywords

string manipulation PHP functions data validation error handling security vulnerabilities

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