How does setting the timezone affect the output of date functions in PHP scripts?

Setting the timezone in PHP affects the output of date functions by ensuring that the dates and times displayed are based on the specified timezone. If the timezone is not set, PHP will default to the server's timezone, which may not be the desired timezone for the application. To solve this issue, you can set the timezone using the `date_default_timezone_set()` function at the beginning of your PHP script.

date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');
// Rest of your PHP code here