Are there any best practices for handling exotically formatted date strings in PHP, especially when using date_create_from_format?

When dealing with exotically formatted date strings in PHP, especially when using date_create_from_format, it is important to specify the exact format of the date string to ensure proper parsing. This can prevent errors and unexpected results when working with dates in different formats.

$dateString = "12-31-2022";
$date = DateTime::createFromFormat('m-d-Y', $dateString);
echo $date->format('Y-m-d');