What is the recommended way to access external variables in PHP since version 4.1.0?

In PHP version 4.1.0 and later, the recommended way to access external variables is by using the superglobal arrays like $_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, $_SESSION, $_SERVER, and $_FILES. This is considered a more secure and reliable method compared to the older ways of accessing external variables like $HTTP_GET_VARS, $HTTP_POST_VARS, etc.

// Accessing external variables using superglobal arrays
$value = $_GET['variable_name'];