Bought an old car to learn on and have been changing fluids and what not. Spotted the cable in the picture, mine is unconnected and the male connector is broken off the cable, but the car still starts and runs fine. Picking up bits and pieces of information from reading forums and will speak to a mechanic in the next hour or so, just wondered if anyone here could offer some experience. Is the car safe to drive? Will I be able to pick up a used male connector and fix it that way or will I need a new cable? Is replacing the entire cable a job best left to a professional or could someone like myself (handy but brand new) tackle it?

Thanks in advance for any info/resources.

I think that is the EGR valve, assuming it is the EGR valve it should be safe to drive but the engine might be a bit lumpy/prone to stalling.

If you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron I would get a secondhand connector with a bit of cable attached and splice the individual wires, insulating each one with shrink sleeving. You should be able to pull part of the existing cable out of the split corrugated trunking then tuck the splices back inside for a nice neat job.