What are the potential security risks associated with allowing users to input data in a PHP script?

Allowing users to input data in a PHP script can lead to security risks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and code injection. To mitigate these risks, it is important to validate and sanitize user input before using it in any database queries or outputting it to the browser.

// Example of sanitizing user input in a PHP script
$user_input = $_POST['user_input']; // Assuming user input is coming from a POST request

// Sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection
$clean_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $user_input);

// Output sanitized user input
echo $clean_input;