What are some best practices for handling links and special characters in PHP string manipulation?

When handling links and special characters in PHP string manipulation, it is important to properly encode and decode URLs to prevent errors or security vulnerabilities. One common approach is to use the urlencode() function to encode special characters in a URL and then use urldecode() to decode it when needed. Additionally, when working with links, it's recommended to use htmlspecialchars() to escape special characters to prevent cross-site scripting attacks.

// Encoding a URL
$url = "https://www.example.com/page?param=value";
$encodedUrl = urlencode($url);

// Decoding a URL
$decodedUrl = urldecode($encodedUrl);

// Escaping special characters in a link
$link = "<a href='https://www.example.com'>Click here</a>";
$escapedLink = htmlspecialchars($link);