PHP version: 7.3.5-1+ubuntu19.04.1+deb.sury.org+1
The following should work in all PHP versions:
\x can escape a single hex digit: TAB TAB
Three UTF-8 bytes via \x: ༂
Four UTF-8 bytes via \x: 👾
Octal notation is \888 where '888' = 1 - 3 octal digits (values 0 - 7; range 0 - 377):
\11 and \011: tab tabby tab
\7, \07, and \007: bellbellbellbell
\076 = > ; \176 = ~ ; \476 = > ; \576 = ~
UTF-8 bytes for U+0F02: \340\274\202: ༂
UTF-8 bytes for U+1F47E: \360\237\221\276: 👾
UTF-8 bytes for U+1F47E: \760\637\621\676: 👾
The following should work starting in PHP version 7.0.0:
Code Point / UTF-32 via \u{}: ༂
Code Point / UTF-32 via \u{}: 👾
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \476 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 21
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \576 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 21
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \760 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 27
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \637 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 27
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \621 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 27
PHP Warning: Octal escape sequence overflow \676 is greater than \377 in /home/o35aGH/prog.php on line 27