How can PHP and MySQL work together to ensure accurate date comparisons and formatting?

When working with dates in PHP and MySQL, it's important to ensure that both systems are using the same date format to avoid any discrepancies. One way to do this is by using the `DATE_FORMAT()` function in MySQL to format dates in a consistent manner before comparing them in PHP. This ensures that date comparisons are accurate and that the dates are displayed in the desired format.

// Assuming $date is a date string in PHP
// Connect to MySQL database
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "username", "password", "database");

// Format date using MySQL DATE_FORMAT function
$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE DATE_FORMAT(date_column, '%Y-%m-%d') = ?";
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare($query);
$stmt->bind_param("s", $date);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();

// Fetch results and display
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    echo $row['date_column'] . "<br>";
}

// Close connection
$stmt->close();
$mysqli->close();