What are the best practices for storing and retrieving data based on specific dates in PHP?

When storing and retrieving data based on specific dates in PHP, it is recommended to use a standardized date format such as Y-m-d (Year-Month-Day) for consistency. When storing dates in a database, it is best to use the DATETIME data type to ensure accurate storage and retrieval. When querying data based on specific dates, use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection attacks.

// Storing data with a specific date
$date = date("Y-m-d");
$query = "INSERT INTO table_name (date_column) VALUES ('$date')";
// Execute the query

// Retrieving data based on a specific date
$search_date = "2021-10-15";
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE date_column = ?";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$stmt->execute([$search_date]);
$results = $stmt->fetchAll();