How can the conversion of varchar dates to date format in PHP be done effectively to avoid problems?

When converting varchar dates to date format in PHP, it is essential to use the correct format specifier to avoid problems. One efficient way to do this is by using the strtotime() function to convert the varchar date to a Unix timestamp and then using the date() function to format it as needed. This approach ensures that the conversion is done accurately and without errors.

// Sample varchar date
$varcharDate = '2022-01-15';

// Convert varchar date to date format
$date = date('Y-m-d', strtotime($varcharDate));

echo $date; // Output: 2022-01-15