What are some best practices for efficiently padding numbers with zeros in PHP to meet specific formatting requirements?

When padding numbers with zeros in PHP to meet specific formatting requirements, the str_pad() function can be used to add leading zeros to a number. This function takes the input number, desired total length, and padding character as parameters to generate the formatted output.

// Padding a number with leading zeros to meet specific formatting requirements
$number = 7;
$desired_length = 5;
$formatted_number = str_pad($number, $desired_length, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);

echo $formatted_number; // Output: 00007