What are the best practices for encoding form data in PHP to avoid issues with special characters?

When encoding form data in PHP to avoid issues with special characters, it is recommended to use the htmlspecialchars() function to escape special characters like <, >, &, ", and '. This helps prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks and ensures that user input is properly sanitized before being displayed on a webpage.

// Example of encoding form data to avoid issues with special characters
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    $name = htmlspecialchars($_POST["name"]);
    $email = htmlspecialchars($_POST["email"]);
    
    // Process the sanitized form data
}