How can debugging tools be effectively used to identify errors in PHP code?

Debugging tools can be effectively used to identify errors in PHP code by setting breakpoints, stepping through the code line by line, inspecting variables, and viewing error messages. By using tools like Xdebug or PHPStorm, developers can pinpoint the exact location of bugs and understand the state of the program at different points in the execution.

// Example PHP code snippet with a potential error
$number1 = 10;
$number2 = 0;

// Attempting to divide by zero
$result = $number1 / $number2;

echo $result;