How can PHP developers ensure that decimal values are properly formatted and displayed in output using number_format()?
When working with decimal values in PHP, developers can use the number_format() function to ensure that the values are properly formatted and displayed in the output. This function allows developers to specify the number of decimal places, the decimal separator, and the thousands separator for the formatted number.
```php
$number = 1234.5678;
$formatted_number = number_format($number, 2, '.', ',');
echo $formatted_number;
```
In this code snippet, the variable $number contains the decimal value that we want to format. The number_format() function is used to format the number with 2 decimal places, using a period as the decimal separator and a comma as the thousands separator. Finally, the formatted number is echoed to the output.