PHP

codeigniter sanitize input field

// THIS HELPER METHOD SANITIZES INPUT FIELDS
function sanitize($input = '')
    {
        // AT FIRST TRIMMING THE INPUT, REMOVING THE WHITE SPACES.
        $trimmed_input = trim(preg_replace('/ss+/', ' ', $input));
        $type = gettype($trimmed_input);
        if ($type == "integer") {
            $sanitized_input = filter_var($trimmed_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT);
        } elseif ($type == "double") {
            $sanitized_input = filter_var($trimmed_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT);
        } else { // LETS ASSUME IT IS A STRING
            // $sanitized_input = filter_var($trimmed_input, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING, FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_LOW | FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_HIGH | FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_BACKTICK);
            $sanitized_input = html_entity_decode(htmlspecialchars($trimmed_input));
        }

        return $sanitized_input;
    }