title: NOW() function in PHP
body: <p>Is there a PHP function that returns the date and time in the same format as the MySQL function <code>NOW()</code>? </p>
  
  <p>I know how to do it using <code>date()</code>, but I am asking if there is a function only for this. </p>
  
  <p>For example, to return:</p>
  
  <pre><code>2009-12-01 00:00:00
  </code></pre>