What best practices should be followed when incorporating special characters like unsichtbares Zeichen in PHP code to avoid unintended consequences?

Special characters like unsichtbares Zeichen can cause unintended consequences in PHP code, such as syntax errors or unexpected behavior. To avoid these issues, it is best practice to use escape sequences or encode the special characters properly.

// Example of encoding unsichtbares Zeichen in PHP code
$unsichtbaresZeichen = "\xE2\x80\x8B"; // UTF-8 encoding for zero-width space
echo "This is a string with $unsichtbaresZeichen unsichtbares Zeichen.";