Inconsistent date formats when using Carbon with MySQL in PHP 8.1
I've been banging my head against this for hours. I'm working with an scenario where date formats are inconsistent when retrieving dates from my MySQL database using the Carbon library in PHP 8.1. I'm using Laravel 9 and have a model that looks like this: ```php class Event extends Model { protected $dates = ['event_date']; } ``` When I save a date using Carbon like this: ```php Event::create([ 'event_date' => Carbon::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2023-10-01 14:00:00') ]); ``` The date is stored correctly in the database. However, when I retrieve it like this: ```php $event = Event::find(1); return $event->event_date; ``` I sometimes get the output in the format `2023-10-01 14:00:00` and other times as `2023-10-01T14:00:00.000000Z`, which is causing issues when trying to display this date in a user-friendly format in my views. I've checked my database's date format settings and they seem to be consistent (DATETIME type). I've also tried explicitly formatting the output using: ```php echo $event->event_date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'); ``` But this has not resolved the inconsistency. I suspect it might have something to do with how PHP and MySQL handle time zones. My `.env` file includes: ``` APP_TIMEZONE=UTC DB_TIMEZONE=UTC ``` Can anyone provide insights on why I'm experiencing these inconsistent formats and how I could ensure a consistent date output from my model? I'm using Php 3.9 in this project. Thanks, I really appreciate it!