What are the best practices for error handling in PHP scripts, especially when dealing with user input from forms?

When dealing with user input from forms in PHP scripts, it is important to implement proper error handling to ensure data integrity and security. One of the best practices is to validate user input before processing it, checking for required fields, data types, and any specific constraints. Additionally, it is recommended to sanitize input to prevent SQL injection attacks and other security vulnerabilities. Lastly, displaying clear error messages to users can help improve user experience and guide them on how to correct their input. 

// Example of error handling in a PHP script dealing with user input from a form

// Validate and sanitize user input
$name = isset($_POST['name']) ? htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']) : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL) : '';

// Check for required fields
if(empty($name) || empty($email)) {
    $error = "Please fill out all required fields.";
}

// Validate email format
if(!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
    $error = "Invalid email format.";
}

// Display error message if any
if(isset($error)) {
    echo $error;
} else {
    // Process the form data
    // ...
}

Keywords

try-catch validation filter_input error_reporting exception

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