Are there any best practices to follow when constructing URLs in PHP for optimal functionality and security?

When constructing URLs in PHP, it is important to ensure both optimal functionality and security. To achieve this, it is recommended to use the `urlencode()` function to encode any data that needs to be passed in the URL to prevent injection attacks and ensure proper handling of special characters. Additionally, it is good practice to validate and sanitize user input before constructing URLs to prevent any malicious input.

// Example of constructing a secure URL in PHP
$data = "example data";
$encoded_data = urlencode($data);
$url = "https://example.com/page.php?data=" . $encoded_data;
echo $url;