Функции фильтрации данных

Also notice that filter functions are using only the original variable values passed to the script even if you change the value in super global variable ($_GET, $_POST, ...) later in the script.

<?php
echo filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'var'); // print 'something'
echo $_GET['var']; // print 'something'
$_GET['var'] = 'changed';
echo filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'var'); // print 'something'
echo $_GET['var']; // print 'changed'
?>

In fact, external data are duplicated in SAPI before the script is processed and filter functions don't use super globals anymore (as explained in Filter tutorial bellow, section 'How does it work?').

I recommend you to use the FILTER_REQUIRE_SCALAR (or FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY) flags, since you can use array-brackets both to access string offsets and array-element -- however, not only this can lead to unexpected behaviour. Look at this example:

<?php
$image = basename(filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'src', FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW, FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_LOW));
// further checks
?>

/script.php?src[0]=foobar will cause a warning. :-(
Hence my recommendation:

<?php
$image = basename(filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'src', FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW, FILTER_REQUIRE_SCALAR | FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_LOW));
// further checks
?>