What are some best practices for encoding files in UTF-8 without a BOM to avoid compatibility issues between different systems?

When encoding files in UTF-8 without a BOM to avoid compatibility issues between different systems, it is important to ensure that the file is saved with UTF-8 encoding without the Byte Order Mark (BOM). This can be achieved by configuring the text editor or IDE to save files in UTF-8 without BOM. Additionally, when reading or writing files in PHP, specifying the encoding as UTF-8 without BOM can help prevent compatibility issues.

// Specify UTF-8 encoding without BOM when reading a file
$fileContent = file_get_contents('example.txt', false, NULL, 3);

// Specify UTF-8 encoding without BOM when writing to a file
file_put_contents('example.txt', $content, LOCK_EX);