How can PHP developers effectively debug and troubleshoot issues related to variable content and function calls within their code?

To effectively debug and troubleshoot variable content and function calls in PHP code, developers can use tools like var_dump() or print_r() to display the contents of variables and arrays. They can also use error_reporting() to enable error reporting and display any errors that occur during execution. Additionally, utilizing Xdebug or a debugging tool like PhpStorm can help track function calls and step through code execution.

// Example of using var_dump() to display variable content
$variable = "Hello, World!";
var_dump($variable);

// Example of enabling error reporting
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

// Example of using Xdebug to track function calls
xdebug_start_trace();
// Code to debug
xdebug_stop_trace();