What best practices should be followed when handling form submissions in PHP, especially in terms of data validation and error handling?

When handling form submissions in PHP, it is essential to perform thorough data validation to ensure that the input is safe and accurate. This includes checking for required fields, validating email addresses, and sanitizing input to prevent SQL injection attacks. Additionally, implementing proper error handling techniques such as displaying clear error messages to the user can improve the overall user experience. 

// Example of handling form submissions in PHP with data validation and error handling

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    // Validate form data
    $name = $_POST["name"];
    $email = $_POST["email"];

    if (empty($name) || empty($email)) {
        $error = "Please fill in all required fields.";
    } elseif (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
        $error = "Invalid email format.";
    } else {
        // Process form data
        // Insert data into database, send email, etc.
        $success = "Form submitted successfully!";
    }
}

// Display error messages
if (isset($error)) {
    echo "<p style='color: red;'>Error: $error</p>";
}

if (isset($success)) {
    echo "<p style='color: green;'>Success: $success</p>";
}

Keywords

form submissions data validation error handling PHP functions libraries

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