What are the potential consequences of using signed integers in PHP for IP addresses?

Using signed integers for IP addresses in PHP can lead to unexpected behavior, as IP addresses are typically represented as unsigned integers. This can result in incorrect comparisons, calculations, or storage of IP addresses. To avoid this issue, it is recommended to use the `ip2long()` function in PHP, which converts an IP address into an unsigned integer.

$ip_address = '192.168.1.1';
$unsigned_int = sprintf('%u', ip2long($ip_address));