When dealing with HTML tags in PHP strings, what functions should be used to manipulate the content effectively?

When dealing with HTML tags in PHP strings, it is important to use functions that can effectively manipulate the content without breaking the structure of the HTML. One common approach is to use functions like strip_tags() to remove all HTML tags from a string, or htmlspecialchars() to convert special characters to HTML entities. These functions help ensure that the HTML content remains intact while allowing for safe manipulation.

// Example of using strip_tags() to remove all HTML tags from a string
$htmlString = "<p>This is <b>bold</b> text.</p>";
$strippedString = strip_tags($htmlString);
echo $strippedString;

// Example of using htmlspecialchars() to convert special characters to HTML entities
$specialString = "This is a <strong>special</strong> character: &";
$encodedString = htmlspecialchars($specialString);
echo $encodedString;