What are some common issues with encoding and character sets in PHP when dealing with data from a MySQL database?

One common issue with encoding and character sets in PHP when dealing with data from a MySQL database is mismatched character sets between PHP and the database, leading to garbled or incorrectly displayed text. To solve this, ensure that the character sets are consistent throughout the application by setting the appropriate charset in both PHP and the MySQL connection.

// Set the character set in PHP
mysqli_set_charset($conn, 'utf8');

// Set the character set in MySQL connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
$conn->set_charset("utf8");