What are some best practices for debugging PHP code when encountering issues like incorrect date outputs?

Issue: When encountering incorrect date outputs in PHP, it is important to check the format of the date being used and ensure it is compatible with the date functions being used in the code. Additionally, checking the timezone settings of the server or application can help resolve discrepancies in date outputs. Code snippet:

// Example code to display the current date in a specific format
$date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
echo $date;