A sanitizing class can be used for different type of inputs

CommonFunctions.php

  class CommonFunctions
  {
    public static function sanitize_number($number)
    {
      return filter_var($number, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT);
    }

    public static function sanitize_decimal($decimal)
    {
      return filter_var($decimal, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT);
    }

    public static function sanitize_string($string)
    {
      $string = htmlspecialchars($string);
      //$string = addslashes($string);
      return filter_var($string, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
    }

    public static function sanitize_html($string)
    {
      $string = htmlspecialchars($string, '<a><strong><em><hr><br><p><u><ul><ol><li><dl><dt><dd><table><thead><tr><th><tbody><td><tfoot>');
      //$string = addslashes($string);
      return filter_var($string, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
    }

    public static function sanitize_url($url)
    {
      return filter_var($url, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);
    }

    public static function sanitize_slug($string)
    {
      $string = str_slug($string); // Laravel Helper
      return filter_var($string, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);
    }

    public static function sanitize_email($string)
    {
      return filter_var($string, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
    }

    public static function nl2br($content)
    {
      return (str_replace(array('<br>', '<br />', '<br>', '<br/>'), '', nl2br($content)));
    }
    
  }