What is the difference between rawurlencode() and urlencode() in PHP?

The main difference between rawurlencode() and urlencode() in PHP is how they handle special characters. rawurlencode() encodes all characters except letters, numbers, and a few special characters, while urlencode() encodes all non-alphanumeric characters. If you need to encode a URL component, it's recommended to use rawurlencode() to ensure proper encoding.

// Using rawurlencode() to encode a URL component
$url = 'https://www.example.com/?query=' . rawurlencode('special characters: !@#$%^&*()');
echo $url;