What are some native PHP functions that can be used to remove specific characters from a string?

When we need to remove specific characters from a string in PHP, we can use functions like `str_replace()` or `preg_replace()`. `str_replace()` allows us to replace occurrences of a specific character with an empty string, effectively removing it from the string. `preg_replace()` offers more flexibility by allowing us to use regular expressions to target and remove specific characters or patterns from the string.

// Using str_replace() to remove specific characters from a string
$string = "Hello, World!";
$charsToRemove = ",!";
$newString = str_replace(str_split($charsToRemove), "", $string);
echo $newString;

// Using preg_replace() with a regular expression to remove specific characters from a string
$string = "Hello, World!";
$charsToRemove = "/[,!]/";
$newString = preg_replace($charsToRemove, "", $string);
echo $newString;