How can PHP developers ensure that the output of urlencode matches their expectations, especially when dealing with non-ASCII characters?

When dealing with non-ASCII characters, PHP developers can ensure that the output of urlencode matches their expectations by using mb_convert_encoding to convert the string to UTF-8 before encoding it. This ensures that the non-ASCII characters are properly encoded and that the output is consistent across different environments.

// Input string with non-ASCII characters
$input = "Café Müller";

// Convert the string to UTF-8 before encoding
$encoded = urlencode(mb_convert_encoding($input, 'UTF-8'));

echo $encoded; // Output: Caf%C3%A9+M%C3%BCller