In the context of PHP template handling, how can a developer ensure proper variable substitution in a template engine and avoid common errors like missing arguments in template set functions?

To ensure proper variable substitution in a template engine and avoid common errors like missing arguments in template set functions, developers can use associative arrays to pass all necessary variables to the template engine. By organizing variables in an array, developers can easily check for missing arguments before rendering the template.

// Define template variables in an associative array
$template_vars = [
    'title' => 'Welcome to our website',
    'content' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet',
    'footer' => '© 2021 MyWebsite'
];

// Check for missing arguments before rendering the template
if (array_key_exists('title', $template_vars) && array_key_exists('content', $template_vars) && array_key_exists('footer', $template_vars)) {
    // Render the template using the variables
    $template = file_get_contents('template.php');
    foreach ($template_vars as $key => $value) {
        $template = str_replace('{{' . $key . '}}', $value, $template);
    }
    echo $template;
} else {
    echo 'Error: Missing arguments in template variables';
}