What best practices should be followed when writing a PHP script to create a file with both fixed strings and $_POST variables?

When creating a PHP script to generate a file with both fixed strings and $_POST variables, it is important to properly sanitize and validate the user input to prevent any security vulnerabilities. Additionally, it is recommended to use file handling functions to create and write to the file securely.

<?php
// Sanitize and validate the $_POST variables
$variable1 = filter_var($_POST['variable1'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$variable2 = filter_var($_POST['variable2'], FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Define the fixed strings
$fixedString1 = "This is a fixed string.";
$fixedString2 = "Another fixed string.";

// Create a new file and write the content
$filename = "output.txt";
$fileContent = $fixedString1 . "\n" . "Variable 1: " . $variable1 . "\n" . $fixedString2 . "\n" . "Variable 2: " . $variable2;
file_put_contents($filename, $fileContent);

echo "File created successfully.";
?>