What are the potential risks of updating PHP versions without proper knowledge?

Updating PHP versions without proper knowledge can lead to compatibility issues with existing code, deprecated functions being used, and security vulnerabilities being exposed. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to thoroughly test the code on a development environment before updating the PHP version on a production server.

// Example of checking for deprecated functions before updating PHP version
if (function_exists('deprecated_function')) {
    // Handle deprecated function usage
    // Upgrade the code to use the recommended alternative
} else {
    // Code that does not use deprecated functions
}