What best practices should be followed when implementing password reset functionality in PHP to ensure seamless user experience and security?

When implementing password reset functionality in PHP, it is essential to follow best practices to ensure a seamless user experience and maintain security. This includes using secure methods for generating and storing reset tokens, implementing proper validation and verification processes, and securely handling user input and database interactions. 

// Generate a unique random token for password reset
$token = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));

// Store the token in the database along with the user's email and expiration timestamp
$query = "INSERT INTO password_resets (email, token, expires_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?)";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$stmt->execute([$email, $token, date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime('+1 hour'))]);

// Send the reset link with the token to the user via email
$reset_link = "https://example.com/reset_password.php?token=" . $token;
$email_subject = "Password Reset Request";
$email_body = "To reset your password, click on the following link: " . $reset_link;
mail($email, $email_subject, $email_body);

Keywords

password reset security user experience PHP functions libraries

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