How can URL encoding be used in PHP to convert special characters in a URL?

URL encoding in PHP can be used to convert special characters in a URL into a format that can be safely transmitted over the internet. This is important because certain characters, such as spaces or symbols, can cause issues when included in a URL. To encode a URL in PHP, you can use the urlencode() function, which converts special characters into their percent-encoded form.

$url = "https://www.example.com/page with spaces.php";
$encoded_url = urlencode($url);

echo $encoded_url;