How can one ensure accurate date and time conversions when using strtotime() in PHP?

When using strtotime() in PHP for date and time conversions, it is important to ensure that the input date/time string is in a format that strtotime() can interpret correctly. To avoid any inaccuracies, it is recommended to provide the date/time string in a format that follows the accepted date and time formats in PHP. Additionally, specifying the timezone explicitly can help in obtaining accurate conversions.

$dateString = "2022-01-15 12:30:00";
$timestamp = strtotime($dateString);
if ($timestamp === false) {
    echo "Invalid date/time format";
} else {
    $dateTime = new DateTime();
    $dateTime->setTimestamp($timestamp);
    $dateTime->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'));
    echo $dateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');
}