How can reserved characters in XML, like "&", affect the functionality of PHP links?

Reserved characters in XML, like "&", can affect the functionality of PHP links because they can break the XML structure when used directly in the link. To solve this issue, you can use the htmlspecialchars() function in PHP to encode the reserved characters before including them in the link. This function will convert characters like "&" into their corresponding HTML entities, ensuring that the XML structure is not broken.

<?php
$link = "https://example.com/?param1=" . htmlspecialchars($param1) . "&param2=" . htmlspecialchars($param2);
echo '<a href="' . $link . '">Click here</a>';
?>