What best practices should be followed when working with arrays and variables in PHP to avoid mistakes like the one mentioned in the forum thread?

The issue mentioned in the forum thread is likely related to improper handling of array elements and variables in PHP. To avoid such mistakes, it is crucial to always check if an array key exists before trying to access it to prevent undefined index errors. Additionally, using isset() or empty() functions can help validate variables before using them to avoid potential errors.

// Example of checking if array key exists before accessing it
$array = ['key' => 'value'];

if (array_key_exists('key', $array)) {
    $value = $array['key'];
    echo $value;
} else {
    echo 'Key does not exist in the array';
}