Are there specific guidelines for the placement of the DOCTYPE declaration in relation to PHP code within a file?

The placement of the DOCTYPE declaration in relation to PHP code within a file is not critical for the functionality of the PHP code. However, it is recommended to place the DOCTYPE declaration at the very beginning of the HTML document to ensure proper rendering in the browser. This means that the DOCTYPE declaration should come before any PHP code in the file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>My PHP Page</title>
</head>
<body>
    <?php
    // Your PHP code here
    ?>
</body>
</html>