How can PHP beginners effectively utilize the substr() function?

PHP beginners can effectively utilize the substr() function by understanding its parameters and how it works. The substr() function is used to extract a part of a string based on the start position and length provided. Beginners should pay attention to the zero-based indexing of characters in a string when using substr().

// Example of using substr() function
$string = "Hello, World!";
$substring = substr($string, 0, 5); // Extracts "Hello" from the string
echo $substring;