What are the drawbacks of replacing commas with HTML line breaks (<br>) for displaying data in PHP?

Replacing commas with HTML line breaks (<br>) for displaying data in PHP can cause readability issues, as line breaks are typically used for separating content visually, not for separating data elements. Additionally, using <br> tags can make it harder to manipulate the displayed data later on, such as when performing text searches or formatting the output in a different way. Instead, it's recommended to use a more structured approach, such as displaying data in a table or using CSS for styling.

&lt;?php
$data = &quot;Item 1, Item 2, Item 3&quot;;

// Displaying data with commas
echo $data;

// Displaying data with line breaks
echo nl2br($data);
?&gt;