What are some alternative approaches to using delimiters in PHP regular expressions to minimize potential problems and ensure smooth functionality?

When using delimiters in PHP regular expressions, it is important to choose delimiters that are not commonly used within the pattern to avoid conflicts. One approach to minimize potential problems is to use less common delimiters like `~`, `#`, or `|`. This helps ensure smooth functionality by reducing the chances of delimiter collision within the regular expression pattern.

$pattern = '~\b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}\b~i';
$string = 'Email me at john.doe@example.com';

if (preg_match($pattern, $string)) {
    echo 'Email address found!';
} else {
    echo 'No email address found.';
}