What is the correct way to handle user input in PHP to avoid errors?

When handling user input in PHP, it is important to sanitize and validate the input to prevent errors and security vulnerabilities. One way to do this is by using PHP's filter_input() function along with appropriate filter flags to sanitize the input data. Additionally, you can use regular expressions to validate user input against a specific format or pattern.

// Sanitize and validate user input
$username = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'username', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

// Check if input is valid
if ($username && $email) {
    // Input is valid, continue processing
} else {
    // Invalid input, handle error
}