What are the common pitfalls to watch out for when handling form data in PHP, especially in cases where form elements have similar names causing data mix-ups?

When handling form data in PHP, a common pitfall is data mix-ups when form elements have similar names. To avoid this issue, use array notation in the form element names to ensure each input is treated as a separate entity in the PHP script. By appending "[]" to the name attribute of similar form elements, PHP will automatically create an array of values for those inputs. 

<form method="post">
  <input type="text" name="user_input[]" />
  <input type="text" name="user_input[]" />
  <input type="text" name="user_input[]" />
  <input type="submit" />
</form>

<?php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
  $user_inputs = $_POST["user_input"];
  
  foreach ($user_inputs as $input) {
    echo $input . "<br>";
  }
}
?>

Keywords

form data PHP data mix-ups form elements handling

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