When converting a project to Unicode = UTF-8, should developers prioritize using ICONV_ or MB_ functions in PHP?

When converting a project to Unicode = UTF-8 in PHP, developers should prioritize using the MB_ functions over ICONV_ functions. This is because the MB_ functions are specifically designed for handling multi-byte character encodings like UTF-8, whereas the ICONV_ functions are more general-purpose and may not handle UTF-8 encoding as effectively. By using the MB_ functions, developers can ensure more accurate and reliable conversion of character encodings in their PHP project.

// Example code snippet demonstrating the use of MB_ functions for converting character encodings to UTF-8
$inputString = "Some string with non-UTF-8 characters";
$outputString = mb_convert_encoding($inputString, "UTF-8");
echo $outputString;