What are the potential pitfalls of storing date values as text in a database when filtering data in PHP?

Storing date values as text in a database can lead to issues when filtering data in PHP, as text comparisons may not always yield accurate results. To solve this problem, it is recommended to store date values in a proper date format in the database, such as using the DATE data type in MySQL. This allows for more accurate date comparisons and filtering in PHP.

// Example of filtering data using proper date format in PHP
$date = "2022-01-01";
$query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE date_column >= '$date'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

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