What are the potential pitfalls of using the include() function in PHP to include variables from another file?

Using the include() function in PHP to include variables from another file can lead to security vulnerabilities if the included file is not properly sanitized. To solve this issue, it is recommended to use the include_once() function instead, which ensures that the file is included only once to prevent variable redeclarations.

include_once('included_file.php');
// Now you can safely use variables from included_file.php