What are the best practices for securely storing and verifying passwords in PHP?

Storing and verifying passwords securely in PHP is crucial for protecting user data. One of the best practices is to use password hashing functions like password_hash() to securely store passwords in the database. When verifying passwords, use password_verify() to compare the hashed password with the user input.

// Storing password securely
$password = 'user_password';
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

// Verifying password
$user_input = 'user_input_password';
if (password_verify($user_input, $hashed_password)) {
    echo 'Password is correct';
} else {
    echo 'Password is incorrect';
}