In what scenarios would one need to detect the encoding of a string in PHP and how can this be achieved effectively?

Detecting the encoding of a string in PHP is important when dealing with text data that may come in different encodings. This is crucial for tasks like data processing, manipulation, and display, as working with mismatched encodings can lead to data corruption or display issues. One effective way to detect the encoding of a string in PHP is by using the `mb_detect_encoding()` function from the Multibyte String extension, which can automatically detect the encoding of a given string.

// Example code snippet to detect the encoding of a string in PHP
$string = "Some text in an unknown encoding";
$encoding = mb_detect_encoding($string);

echo "Detected encoding: " . $encoding;