PHP's new input_filter does not read $_GET or $_POST arrays

Question

In PHP 5.2 there was a nice security function added called \"input_filter\", so instead of saying:

$name = $_GET[\'name\'];

you can now say

Answer 1

A handy way to do this without modifying the global array:

if (!($name = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'name'))) {
    $name = 'default_value';
}

Or using the ternary operator:

$name = ($name = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'name')) ? $name : 'default_value';