What’s the best practice for sanitizing user input in WordPress?
Asked on Sep 20, 2025
Answer
Sanitizing user input in WordPress is crucial for security and data integrity, ensuring that any data received from users is cleaned and safe for use. WordPress provides several built-in functions to help developers sanitize input effectively.
Example Concept: Use WordPress's built-in functions like sanitize_text_field(), esc_html(), and sanitize_email() to clean user input. These functions strip out harmful code and ensure data is safe before storing it in the database or displaying it on the site.
Additional Comment:
- Use "sanitize_text_field()" for general text input to remove unwanted HTML tags.
- Apply "esc_html()" when outputting data to prevent HTML injection.
- Use "sanitize_email()" specifically for email inputs to ensure valid email format.
- Always validate and sanitize data both on input and output for maximum security.
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