What are recommended methods for checking and handling null values in PHP functions?

Null values in PHP functions can cause unexpected behavior or errors if not handled properly. To check and handle null values in PHP functions, you can use conditional statements to check if the value is null before proceeding with any operations. You can also use the null coalescing operator (??) to provide a default value if the variable is null.

// Example code to check and handle null values in a PHP function
function handleNullValue($value) {
    if ($value === null) {
        return "Value is null";
    } else {
        return $value;
    }
}

// Usage
$value1 = "Hello";
$value2 = null;

echo handleNullValue($value1); // Output: Hello
echo handleNullValue($value2); // Output: Value is null