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

Using the "@" symbol to suppress error messages in PHP can lead to debugging difficulties and hide potential issues in your code. It is considered a bad practice as it can make troubleshooting errors more challenging. Instead of suppressing errors, it is recommended to handle them properly using try-catch blocks or error handling functions.

try {
    // Code that may produce errors
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // Handle the error here
}