How can iconv and htmlentities be effectively used to address encoding problems in PHP applications?

When dealing with encoding problems in PHP applications, iconv can be used to convert strings between different character encodings, while htmlentities can be used to convert special characters to HTML entities to ensure proper rendering. By using iconv to convert the encoding of strings and htmlentities to handle special characters, developers can effectively address encoding issues in their PHP applications.

// Example using iconv and htmlentities to address encoding problems
$string = "Café";
$convertedString = iconv("UTF-8", "ISO-8859-1//TRANSLIT", $string);
$escapedString = htmlentities($convertedString, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');

echo $escapedString; // Output: Café