Question

Some years back, I use to do something similar to this on top of my script:

ini_set('magic_quotes_runtime', 0);
ini_set('magic_quotes_sybase', 0);
ini_set('url_rewriter.tags', '');
ini_set('session.use_trans_sid', 0);

function clean_input ($arr)
{
    if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc())
        $arr = array_map('addslashes', $arr);

    return $arr;
}

$_GET = clean_input($_GET);
$_POST = clean_input($_POST);
$_COOKIE = clean_input($_COOKIE);
$_REQUEST = clean_input($_REQUEST);

Are this still relevant today at least in PHP 5.2?

Moreover, what is the minimum basic sanitation stuff we need in today?

Answer 1

mysql_real_escape_string() on anything that enters your database.

htmlentities() on anything that exits your database.

The Security class that is bundled with CodeIgniter is quite good. I would suggest looking through it if you are curious what is considered production ready.