What are the best practices for handling dates and times in PHP, especially when formatting them?

When handling dates and times in PHP, it is important to use the DateTime class for accurate and reliable date and time manipulation. To format dates and times, use the format() method with the desired format string. This allows for consistent and customizable output of dates and times.

// Create a new DateTime object with the current date and time
$date = new DateTime();

// Format the date and time in a specific format
$formatted_date = $date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s');

echo $formatted_date;