Is there a built-in function in PHP to check if a value is numeric?

Yes, there is a built-in function in PHP called `is_numeric()` that can be used to check if a value is numeric. This function returns `true` if the given variable is a number or a numeric string, and `false` otherwise. It is a simple and effective way to validate whether a value is numeric in PHP.

$value = '123';
if (is_numeric($value)) {
    echo "The value is numeric.";
} else {
    echo "The value is not numeric.";
}