How does PHP handle XML data when stored as a string variable?

When storing XML data as a string variable in PHP, it is important to ensure that the XML is properly encoded to prevent any parsing errors. One way to handle this is by using the `htmlspecialchars()` function to encode the XML data before storing it in a string variable. This function will convert special characters in the XML data to their respective HTML entities, ensuring that the XML remains valid when stored as a string.

$xmlData = '<data><name>John Doe</name><age>30</age></data>';
$encodedXmlData = htmlspecialchars($xmlData, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8');