What are the best practices for formatting and displaying date and time in PHP, especially in the context of WordPress plugins?

When working with dates and times in PHP, especially in the context of WordPress plugins, it is important to follow best practices for formatting and displaying them to ensure consistency and readability. One common approach is to use the `date()` function along with the appropriate format string to display dates and times in the desired format. Additionally, utilizing the `strtotime()` function can help with converting date and time strings into Unix timestamps for easier manipulation.

// Example of formatting and displaying date and time in PHP

// Get the current timestamp
$current_timestamp = current_time( 'timestamp' );

// Format the timestamp as a date and time string
$formatted_date_time = date( 'F j, Y g:i a', $current_timestamp );

// Display the formatted date and time
echo 'Current date and time: ' . $formatted_date_time;