What are some common pitfalls when using the strtotime function in PHP?

One common pitfall when using the strtotime function in PHP is that it relies heavily on the date format provided, which can lead to unexpected results if the format is not recognized. To avoid this issue, it's recommended to use a standard date format that strtotime can easily interpret. Another pitfall is that strtotime may return false if it fails to parse the input string, so it's important to check for this condition before using the result.

$dateString = '2022-01-01';
$timestamp = strtotime($dateString);

if ($timestamp === false) {
    echo "Invalid date format";
} else {
    echo date('Y-m-d', $timestamp);
}