What are the potential pitfalls of using the "@" symbol to suppress error messages in PHP?

Using the "@" symbol to suppress error messages in PHP can lead to debugging difficulties as it hides any potential issues that may arise in the code. Instead of suppressing errors, it is recommended to handle them properly using try-catch blocks or error handling functions to ensure that any errors are logged or displayed appropriately.

try {
    // code that may produce errors
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // handle the error, log it, or display a user-friendly message
}