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Using the htmlspecialchars function is a fundamental practice to mitigate the risk of XSS attacks in web applications. This function converts special characters into HTML entities, which prevents the browser from interpreting these characters as HTML or JavaScript code. Converting special characters into their HTML equivalent ensures that the text entered by the user is displayed correctly on the web page without posing a security risk.

When using htmlspecialchars, characters such as <, >, &, ", and ' are converted to their corresponding HTML entities (<, >, &, ", and '), which prevents them from being interpreted as part of HTML or JavaScript code.

It is important to note that although modern browsers have filters to detect and prevent some XSS attacks, they cannot be relied upon alone to ensure the security of an application. It is essential to implement secure coding practices from the ground up, such as the use of escape functions like htmlspecialchars, user input validation, data sanitization and the adoption of content security policies, to reduce the risk of XSS vulnerabilities and effectively protect the application against potential attacks.