What are some recommended PHP functions for working with dates and times?

When working with dates and times in PHP, there are several built-in functions that can help manipulate, format, and compare dates. Some recommended functions include `date()`, `strtotime()`, `date_create()`, `date_format()`, and `date_diff()`. These functions can be used to format dates, convert strings to Unix timestamps, create date objects, format date objects, and calculate the difference between two dates.

// Example of using date() function to format current date
$currentDate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
echo $currentDate;