Why is it important to subtract 1 from the date value received from date() when using it as an array index in PHP?

When using the date() function in PHP to get the current day of the month, it is important to subtract 1 from the value before using it as an array index. This is because array indices in PHP are zero-based, meaning they start at 0 for the first element. So if you use the date value directly as an index, you will be off by one and may encounter errors or unexpected behavior. 

$date = date('d');
$index = $date - 1;
$array = ['element1', 'element2', 'element3'];

// Accessing the array element using the corrected index
echo $array[$index];

Keywords

date array index PHP subtract value

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