How can the str_replace function be utilized to replace & symbols in URLs effectively in PHP?
When dealing with URLs in PHP, the "&" symbol needs to be encoded as "&" to ensure proper parsing and display. To replace "&" symbols in URLs effectively, you can use the str_replace function in PHP. By specifying "&" as the search string and "&" as the replacement string, you can easily convert encoded "&" symbols back to "&" in URLs.
$url = "https://www.example.com/page?param1=value1&param2=value2";
$decoded_url = str_replace("&", "&", $url);
echo $decoded_url;