How can the PHP version being used affect the handling of special characters and encoding in web pages?

The PHP version being used can affect how special characters and encoding are handled in web pages due to changes in default settings or functions. To ensure proper handling of special characters and encoding, it is important to use the correct PHP version with appropriate settings for character encoding and escaping functions.

// Set the default character encoding to UTF-8
ini_set('default_charset', 'UTF-8');

// Use htmlspecialchars() function to encode special characters
$encoded_string = htmlspecialchars($string, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');