OCR GCSE Computer Science Paper 2 Practice 2025 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

Input validation is primarily focused on ensuring that the data entered into a system meets specific criteria for acceptance. This process involves checking the inputs against predefined rules to confirm they are correct and appropriate for the application's requirements. Specific criteria may include data type (such as ensuring a numerical input is indeed a number), data format (like a specific date format), range or length of the data (ensuring a number falls within a certain range), and any other business rules that dictate what constitutes acceptable data.

By validating input, systems can prevent errors, enhance security by mitigating risks such as SQL injection, and ensure that the data processed is reliable and consistent. This aspect of validating data protects the integrity of operations and storage in the system.

While aspects like data accuracy, encryption, and formatting can be related to the broader field of data handling, they do not specifically capture the primary focus of input validation, which is to assess whether the provided input aligns with required parameters.