What is the best practice for handling variables that may not be sent in PHP POST or GET requests?

When handling variables that may not be sent in PHP POST or GET requests, it is best practice to check if the variable is set before trying to access it to avoid errors. One way to handle this is by using the isset() function to determine if the variable is set before using it in your code.

// Check if the variable is set before accessing it
if(isset($_POST['variable_name'])) {
    $variable = $_POST['variable_name'];
    // Use the variable in your code
} else {
    // Handle the case where the variable is not set
}