Is there a specific PHP function or technique that should be used to output HTML code to ensure proper rendering?

When outputting HTML code using PHP, it is important to properly escape the content to prevent XSS attacks and ensure proper rendering. The htmlspecialchars() function can be used to convert special characters to HTML entities, making the output safe to display in the browser.

<?php
$html_content = "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>";
echo htmlspecialchars($html_content);
?>