How can PHP developers ensure that their code is efficient and flexible when it comes to parsing and manipulating strings with varying formats?

When parsing and manipulating strings with varying formats in PHP, developers can ensure efficiency and flexibility by using regular expressions to match patterns, leveraging built-in string functions for manipulation, and considering the use of libraries like `preg_match` for more complex parsing tasks.

// Example code snippet using regular expressions to parse and manipulate a string with varying formats
$string = "Hello, World! 123";
$pattern = '/[a-zA-Z]+/';
if (preg_match($pattern, $string, $matches)) {
    $result = strtoupper($matches[0]);
    echo $result; // Output: HELLO
}