How does PHP handle uninitialized variables and what are the potential pitfalls associated with this behavior?

PHP handles uninitialized variables by automatically assigning them a default value of NULL. This behavior can lead to potential pitfalls when trying to use uninitialized variables in operations or comparisons, as they may produce unexpected results or errors. To avoid these issues, it's important to always initialize variables before using them to ensure predictable behavior.

// Initialize variables before using them
$variable = null;