Does PHP automatically handle exponentiation?

PHP does not have a built-in operator for exponentiation like some other programming languages. However, you can achieve exponentiation using the `pow()` function or the `**` operator available in PHP 5.6 and later versions. The `pow()` function takes two arguments - the base number and the exponent, and returns the result of raising the base to the exponent.

// Using the pow() function
$base = 2;
$exponent = 3;
$result = pow($base, $exponent);
echo $result;

// Using the ** operator
$base = 2;
$exponent = 3;
$result = $base ** $exponent;
echo $result;