What is the potential pitfall of allowing code to generate code in PHP?

The potential pitfall of allowing code to generate code in PHP is the increased complexity and difficulty in maintaining and debugging the code. It can also lead to security vulnerabilities if not properly sanitized. To solve this issue, it is recommended to limit the use of code generation to specific scenarios where it is absolutely necessary and to thoroughly validate and sanitize any user input that is used in generating code.

// Example of limiting code generation to specific scenarios and sanitizing user input
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];

// Validate and sanitize user input
$validated_input = filter_var($user_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

// Generate code based on validated input
if ($validated_input === 'specific_scenario') {
    // Generate code here
} else {
    // Handle invalid input
}