What are best practices for using var_dump() to verify the contents of variables in PHP?

When using var_dump() to verify the contents of variables in PHP, it's important to ensure that the output is easily readable and does not clutter the page with unnecessary information. To achieve this, it's recommended to wrap the var_dump() output within <pre> tags to preserve formatting and use exit() or die() to prevent further execution of the script after displaying the variable contents.

// Example of using var_dump() with best practices
$variable = "Hello, World!";
echo "<pre>";
var_dump($variable);
echo "</pre>";
exit();