Do note that these 2 functions below are built-in PHP functions supported in 5.3=<

GOTO

There are lots of jokes about the GOTO function in other languages, but in PHP, it can be a really useful exception catching mechanism.

<?php

restart:
    if (error_condition1) {
        goto error;
    }
    if (error_condition2) {
        goto restart;
    }

error:
    report_error();
    exit;

?>  

Date Parsing

12-03-11 could mean 3 different dates:

1. December 3, 2011
2. March 12, 2011
3. March 11, 2012

It is better to be really specific when working with date and time.

<?php

$date = date_create_from_format('d-m-y', '16-03-11');
var_dump(date_format($date, 'F d, Y'));
//Outputs string(14) "March 16, 2011"

?>