What are the common pitfalls when integrating variables into PHP commands?

One common pitfall when integrating variables into PHP commands is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To mitigate this risk, always sanitize and validate user input before using it in PHP commands. 

// Example of sanitizing user input before using it in a PHP command
$user_input = $_POST['user_input']; // Assuming user input is coming from a form submission

// Sanitize the user input using htmlspecialchars to prevent XSS attacks
$sanitized_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input);

// Use the sanitized input in a PHP command
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$sanitized_input'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

Keywords

variable integration PHP commands security vulnerabilities SQL injection data validation

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