What potential pitfalls should be considered when processing form data in PHP?

One potential pitfall when processing form data in PHP is not properly sanitizing and validating user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To mitigate this risk, always sanitize and validate user input before using it in your application. 

// Example of sanitizing and validating user input in PHP
$username = isset($_POST['username']) ? htmlspecialchars(trim($_POST['username'])) : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? filter_var(trim($_POST['email']), FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) : '';

// Using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO users (username, email) VALUES (:username, :email)");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->bindParam(':email', $email);
$stmt->execute();

Keywords

SQL injection cross-site scripting form validation data sanitization secure coding practices

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