How can PHP developers effectively debug issues with PHP scripts?

To effectively debug issues with PHP scripts, developers can use tools like var_dump() or print_r() to output variable values and track the flow of the script. They can also enable error reporting and log errors to a file for better visibility. Using a debugger tool like Xdebug can help step through the code and identify issues more efficiently.

// Enable error reporting
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

// Log errors to a file
ini_set('log_errors', 1);
ini_set('error_log', '/path/to/error.log');

// Output variable values for debugging
var_dump($variable);
print_r($array);