What are some best practices for efficiently replacing multiple character combinations in PHP scripts?

When replacing multiple character combinations in PHP scripts, it is best to use the str_replace function with arrays instead of multiple individual calls. This allows for a more efficient and cleaner code structure.

// Define an array with the character combinations to be replaced
$patterns = array("abc", "123", "xyz");

// Define an array with the replacements for each pattern
$replacements = array("def", "456", "uvw");

// Use str_replace with the arrays to efficiently replace multiple character combinations
$new_string = str_replace($patterns, $replacements, $original_string);

// Output the new string with the replaced character combinations
echo $new_string;