What is the significance of using $_GET to retrieve user data in PHP?

Using $_GET to retrieve user data in PHP is significant because it allows you to easily access data that is sent to the server via a URL parameter. This is commonly used for retrieving data from forms or passing information between pages. However, it is important to validate and sanitize the data obtained from $_GET to prevent security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection attacks.

$user_input = isset($_GET['user_input']) ? $_GET['user_input'] : '';
// Validate and sanitize the user input
$sanitized_input = filter_var($user_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);