How can server-side validation be utilized in PHP to handle empty form field values and prevent errors like "Warning: A non-numeric value encountered"?

When handling form submissions in PHP, it is crucial to validate user input to prevent errors like "Warning: A non-numeric value encountered". One way to address this issue is by implementing server-side validation to check for empty form field values and ensure that only numeric values are processed.

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    $number = $_POST["number"];

    if (empty($number)) {
        echo "Please enter a number.";
    } elseif (!is_numeric($number)) {
        echo "Please enter a valid numeric value.";
    } else {
        // Process the numeric value
    }
}