What is the importance of escaping characters in PHP code, and how does it prevent errors like unexpected strings?

Escaping characters in PHP code is important to prevent errors like unexpected strings or syntax issues. When certain characters are not properly escaped, they can be misinterpreted by the PHP parser, leading to syntax errors or unexpected behavior. By escaping characters, you ensure that they are treated as literal characters and not as part of the code syntax.

// Example of escaping characters in PHP code
$unescapedString = "This is a string with a quote: "Hello world!"";
$escapedString = "This is a string with a quote: \"Hello world!\"";
echo $escapedString;