What are the advantages and disadvantages of using regular expressions versus built-in PHP functions for currency manipulation?

When manipulating currency values in PHP, using regular expressions can provide more flexibility and customization in handling different formats. However, built-in PHP functions like number_format() or money_format() are more straightforward and easier to use for common currency formatting tasks. Regular expressions may be more error-prone and complex to implement compared to built-in functions.

// Using built-in PHP functions for currency manipulation
$amount = 1234.56;
$currency = 'USD';

$formatted_amount = number_format($amount, 2); // Output: 1,234.56
$currency_formatted = money_format('%i', $amount) . " " . $currency; // Output: $1,234.56 USD