In what situations would it be advisable to avoid using utf8_decode in PHP, especially when dealing with special characters like the sharp s (ß)?

When dealing with special characters like the sharp s (ß) in PHP, it is advisable to avoid using utf8_decode as it may not correctly handle all UTF-8 characters, including the sharp s. Instead, it is recommended to use mb_convert_encoding with the appropriate encoding parameter to ensure proper conversion of special characters. 

// Using mb_convert_encoding to handle special characters like the sharp s (ß)
$string = "Straße"; // Contains the sharp s character
$converted_string = mb_convert_encoding($string, 'UTF-8', 'ISO-8859-1');
echo $converted_string; // Output: Straße

Keywords

utf8_decode special characters sharp s encoding multibyte characters

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