What are some best practices for validating and converting date and time inputs in PHP to ensure accurate results?

When validating and converting date and time inputs in PHP, it is important to use functions like strtotime() or DateTime::createFromFormat() to ensure accurate results. Additionally, it is recommended to set the default timezone using date_default_timezone_set() to avoid any timezone-related issues.

// Validate and convert date input
$dateInput = "2022-12-31";
$timestamp = strtotime($dateInput);
if ($timestamp === false) {
    echo "Invalid date input";
} else {
    $formattedDate = date("Y-m-d", $timestamp);
    echo "Converted date: $formattedDate";
}

// Set default timezone
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');