What precautions should be taken when securing an input field before writing its content to a database?

When securing an input field before writing its content to a database, it is important to sanitize the input to prevent SQL injection attacks. This can be done by using prepared statements or parameterized queries to bind user input to query parameters. Additionally, input validation should be performed to ensure that only expected data types and formats are accepted.

// Assuming $conn is your database connection

// Sanitize input using prepared statements
$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO table_name (column_name) VALUES (?)");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $input);
$input = htmlspecialchars($_POST['input_field']); // Sanitize input
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->close();