How can the `htmlentities()` function be used to handle special characters like umlauts in PHP?

Special characters like umlauts can be properly handled in PHP using the `htmlentities()` function. This function converts special characters to their respective HTML entities, ensuring that they are displayed correctly in web pages. By using `htmlentities()`, you can prevent issues such as character encoding problems and display the special characters accurately on your website.

$text = "Möglichkeiten"; // Text with umlaut
$encoded_text = htmlentities($text, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8'); // Encode the text using htmlentities
echo $encoded_text; // Output: Möglichkeiten