What are some best practices for handling date and time calculations in PHP to ensure accurate results and avoid bugs?

When working with date and time calculations in PHP, it is important to use the appropriate functions and formats to ensure accurate results and avoid bugs. One common issue is handling timezones correctly, as failing to do so can lead to incorrect calculations. To solve this, always set the timezone explicitly when working with dates and times in PHP.

// Set the default timezone to use
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the current date and time
$currentDateTime = new DateTime();

// Perform date and time calculations
$futureDateTime = clone $currentDateTime;
$futureDateTime->modify('+1 day');

// Format the result
echo $futureDateTime->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');