What best practices should be followed when handling date calculations in PHP to avoid discrepancies like the one mentioned in the forum thread?

When handling date calculations in PHP, it's important to ensure consistency in time zones and use the appropriate functions to avoid discrepancies. One common issue is not taking into account daylight saving time changes, which can lead to inaccurate date calculations. To solve this, always set the correct time zone using date_default_timezone_set() and use functions like date() and strtotime() for accurate date calculations. 

// Set the correct time zone
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the current date and time
$current_date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');

// Perform date calculations
$new_date = strtotime('+1 day', strtotime($current_date));

// Display the new date
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $new_date);

Keywords

DateTime date calculations timezone strtotime daylight saving time

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