How can PHP developers ensure that the Content-Type header accurately reflects the content being returned in API responses?

To ensure that the Content-Type header accurately reflects the content being returned in API responses, PHP developers can explicitly set the header using the header() function before outputting any content. This ensures that the client receiving the response knows how to interpret the data being sent.

// Set the Content-Type header to JSON
header('Content-Type: application/json');

// Output JSON data
echo json_encode($data);