What potential pitfalls should be considered when using includes in PHP?

One potential pitfall when using includes in PHP is the risk of including files from untrusted sources, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as code injection or file disclosure. To mitigate this risk, it is important to sanitize user input and validate file paths before including them in your code.

$filename = 'path/to/your/file.php';

// Validate file path before including
if (strpos($filename, '/') === false && strpos($filename, '\\') === false) {
    include $filename;
} else {
    echo "Invalid file path";
}