What best practices should be followed when comparing dates in PHP to ensure accurate results?
When comparing dates in PHP, it is important to ensure that the dates are in the same format and timezone to avoid inaccurate results. One best practice is to use the DateTime class to create date objects and then compare them using the appropriate methods like `diff()` or `format()`.
$date1 = new DateTime('2022-01-01');
$date2 = new DateTime('2022-02-01');
if ($date1 < $date2) {
echo "Date 1 is before Date 2";
} elseif ($date1 > $date2) {
echo "Date 1 is after Date 2";
} else {
echo "Date 1 is equal to Date 2";
}