What best practices should be followed when naming variables in PHP to avoid syntax errors?

Variables in PHP should start with a letter or underscore, followed by any combination of letters, numbers, or underscores. It is important to avoid using reserved keywords or special characters in variable names to prevent syntax errors. Additionally, variable names are case-sensitive in PHP, so it is crucial to maintain consistency in naming conventions.

// Good variable naming practices
$myVariable = "Hello, World!";
$_myVariable = 10;
$my_variable = "PHP is awesome";

// Avoid using reserved keywords or special characters
$2myVariable = "This will cause a syntax error";
$my-variable = "Avoid using hyphens in variable names";