By Manuel Lemos

Old functions like utf8\_encode and utf8\_decode are deprecated in PHP 8.2 and will be removed in future versions, probably PHP 9.0, according to the plans of PHP core developers.

If you use these functions in the code of your PHP applications, you need to prepare to change your code, so that code will continue to work in future PHP versions.

Read this article to learn more about the changes in these PHP functions and how to make a smooth transition, so your code continues to work in current and future PHP versions.