What is the best practice for comparing strings in PHP, specifically when checking for a specific starting string?

When comparing strings in PHP, especially when checking for a specific starting string, it is recommended to use the `substr()` function to extract a portion of the string to compare. This function allows you to specify the start position and length of the substring to compare. By using `substr()` in combination with a conditional statement like `if`, you can easily check if a string starts with a specific substring.

// Example code to check if a string starts with a specific substring
$string = "Hello, World!";
$substring = "Hello";

if (substr($string, 0, strlen($substring)) === $substring) {
    echo "The string starts with the specified substring.";
} else {
    echo "The string does not start with the specified substring.";
}