What steps can be taken to prevent errors when negating conditions in PHP code?

When negating conditions in PHP code, it is important to be mindful of operator precedence and use parentheses to clearly define the order of operations. This helps prevent errors and ensures that the intended logic is applied correctly.

// Incorrect way to negate a condition without parentheses
if (!$x == 5) {
    echo "x is not equal to 5";
}

// Correct way to negate a condition with parentheses
if (!($x == 5)) {
    echo "x is not equal to 5";
}