What are the advantages and disadvantages of using str_replace() to replace characters in URLs in PHP?

When replacing characters in URLs in PHP, using the str_replace() function can be advantageous because it is a simple and straightforward way to replace specific characters or strings. However, one disadvantage is that it only allows for exact matches, so if you need to replace multiple variations of a character or string, you may need to use a different function or approach.

// Example of using str_replace() to replace characters in a URL
$url = "https://www.example.com/page?query=hello+world";
$updated_url = str_replace("+", "-", $url);
echo $updated_url;