In what ways can the use of MySQL date and time functions improve the efficiency and readability of the PHP code?

Using MySQL date and time functions can improve the efficiency and readability of PHP code by offloading date and time calculations to the database server, reducing the amount of data transferred between the PHP application and the database. This can lead to faster query execution times and less processing required on the PHP side. Additionally, using built-in MySQL functions can make the code more readable and maintainable by centralizing date and time logic within the database.

// Example of using MySQL date function in PHP code
$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE DATE(date_column) = CURDATE()";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Process the results
}