How can PHP functions like stripslashes() be used to handle special characters like backslashes in strings?

Special characters like backslashes can be problematic in strings as they can be interpreted as escape characters in PHP. To handle this issue, we can use PHP functions like stripslashes() to remove the backslashes from the string. This function removes backslashes that are added before certain characters, making the string safe to use without unintended escape sequences.

$string = "This is a string with a backslash: \example";
$clean_string = stripslashes($string);
echo $clean_string;