What are the differences between using return, exit, and die in PHP scripts, and when should each be used for error handling or script termination?

When it comes to error handling or script termination in PHP, the main differences between return, exit, and die are in their intended use cases and behaviors. - return is typically used within functions to return a value and exit the function's execution. It does not terminate the entire script. - exit is used to immediately terminate the script's execution and can optionally return a status code. - die is essentially an alias for exit and is commonly used for displaying an error message before terminating the script. For error handling, die or exit can be used to halt the script and display an error message, while return is more suitable for functions to return a value and exit the function's execution.

// Using die for error handling
if ($error_condition) {
    die("An error occurred. Script terminated.");
}

// Using return within a function
function divide($numerator, $denominator) {
    if ($denominator == 0) {
        return "Division by zero error.";
    }
    return $numerator / $denominator;
}

// Using exit to terminate script
if ($error_condition) {
    exit(1); // Exit with status code 1
}