How can the default_charset directive in the php.ini file be utilized to address character encoding issues in PHP scripts, and what are the implications of this configuration change?

The default_charset directive in the php.ini file can be utilized to set the default character encoding for PHP scripts. This can help address character encoding issues by ensuring that all output from PHP scripts is consistently encoded in the specified character set. By setting the default_charset directive to a specific character encoding like UTF-8, you can ensure that your PHP scripts handle and output text in a uniform and standardized manner.

// Set the default character encoding to UTF-8 in the php.ini file
default_charset = "UTF-8";