What are the advantages of using MySQL Date/Time functions directly in PHP instead of manual conversions?

When working with dates and times in PHP, it is often more efficient and accurate to use MySQL Date/Time functions directly instead of manually converting dates between PHP and MySQL formats. This approach eliminates the need for additional code to handle conversions and ensures consistency in date/time calculations across both PHP and MySQL.

// Example of using MySQL Date/Time functions directly in PHP
$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE DATE(created_at) = CURDATE()";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

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