What is the function of the PHP script provided in the forum thread?

Issue: The PHP script provided in the forum thread is used to sanitize user input data to prevent SQL injection attacks. This is important for security reasons as it helps protect the database from malicious input. Solution: To sanitize user input data and prevent SQL injection attacks, you can use the following PHP script:

function sanitizeInput($input) {
    $input = trim($input); // Remove whitespace from the beginning and end of the input
    $input = stripslashes($input); // Remove backslashes
    $input = htmlspecialchars($input); // Convert special characters to HTML entities
    return $input;
}

// Example usage:
$userInput = $_POST['user_input'];
$sanitizedInput = sanitizeInput($userInput);