How can PHP developers handle different date and time formats efficiently when converting them to UNIX timestamps?

PHP developers can handle different date and time formats efficiently by using the `strtotime()` function to convert the date and time strings to UNIX timestamps. This function can parse a wide variety of date and time formats, making it a versatile tool for handling different input formats.

$date1 = "2022-01-01 12:00:00";
$timestamp1 = strtotime($date1);

$date2 = "01/01/2022 12:00 PM";
$timestamp2 = strtotime($date2);

echo $timestamp1 . "\n"; // Output: 1641057600
echo $timestamp2 . "\n"; // Output: 1641057600