What best practices should PHP developers follow when handling email validation and ensuring secure email sending practices in their applications?

When handling email validation, PHP developers should use built-in functions like filter_var() with the FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL filter to ensure the email address is in a valid format. To ensure secure email sending practices, developers should use a secure email transport method like SMTP with authentication and encryption.

// Validate email address
$email = "test@example.com";
if (filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
    // Email address is valid
} else {
    // Email address is invalid
}

// Send email using SMTP with authentication and encryption
$transport = (new Swift_SmtpTransport('smtp.example.com', 465, 'ssl'))
  ->setUsername('username')
  ->setPassword('password');

$mailer = new Swift_Mailer($transport);

$message = (new Swift_Message('Test Email'))
  ->setFrom(['from@example.com' => 'From Name'])
  ->setTo(['to@example.com' => 'To Name'])
  ->setBody('This is a test email.');

$result = $mailer->send($message);