How can you safely handle user input from a form to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks in PHP?

hard📝 Application Q9 of 15

PHP - Superglobals and Web Context

AUse htmlspecialchars() on form input before output

BUse $_POST without any filtering

CUse strip_tags() only on numeric inputs

DTrust input if form uses POST method

Step-by-Step Solution

Solution:

Step 1: Understand XSS risk
User input can contain harmful HTML or scripts that run in browsers.
Step 2: Use htmlspecialchars() to encode special characters
This converts HTML tags to safe text preventing script execution.
Final Answer:
Use htmlspecialchars() on form input before output -> Option A
Quick Check:
Encode output with htmlspecialchars() to prevent XSS [OK]

Quick Trick: Always encode output with htmlspecialchars() to prevent XSS [OK]

Common Mistakes:

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