What are best practices for sanitizing $_POST data?

Sanitizing $_POST data is crucial for security and data integrity:

• Use Built-in PHP Functions: Functions like htmlspecialchars and filter_var are useful for sanitizing user input.
• Validate Data Formats: Ensure that data meets expected formats, such as email addresses or numeric values.
• Strip Dangerous Characters: Remove or escape characters that could be used in XSS or SQL injection attacks.
• Sanitize Data Before Output: Always sanitize data before outputting it to the browser to avoid security issues.