What best practices can be followed to ensure the accurate parsing and manipulation of data in PHP scripts, especially when dealing with functions like explode()?

When dealing with functions like explode() in PHP scripts, it is important to handle the data accurately to avoid errors. One best practice is to always check if the data being manipulated is valid before using functions like explode(). This can be done by performing checks such as verifying the data type or length. Additionally, it is recommended to sanitize and validate the data input to prevent any unexpected behavior.

// Example code snippet demonstrating best practices for parsing and manipulating data in PHP

$data = "example1,example2,example3";

// Check if the data is a string before using explode
if(is_string($data)){
    $exploded_data = explode(",", $data);
    
    // Loop through the exploded data
    foreach($exploded_data as $value){
        // Perform further manipulation or processing here
        echo $value . "<br>";
    }
} else {
    echo "Invalid data format";
}