What are some best practices for formatting and displaying date values in PHP?

When formatting and displaying date values in PHP, it is important to use the date() function along with the appropriate format characters to ensure the date is displayed correctly. Best practices include using the date_default_timezone_set() function to set the desired timezone, using the strtotime() function to convert date strings to timestamps if needed, and using the DateTime class for more advanced date manipulation.

// Set the timezone
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the current date in a specific format
$currentDate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');

echo $currentDate;