Can the use of cron jobs be a viable solution for managing time-based events in PHP applications, or are there more efficient alternatives?

Using cron jobs can be a viable solution for managing time-based events in PHP applications. Cron jobs allow you to schedule tasks to run at specific times or intervals, making it a convenient way to automate repetitive tasks. However, there are other alternatives such as using a task scheduler within your PHP framework or using third-party services like AWS CloudWatch Events.

// Example of setting up a cron job in PHP
// Add this line to your crontab file to run a PHP script every hour
// 0 * * * * php /path/to/your/script.php

// script.php
echo "Cron job ran at " . date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "\n";