Put current date into url

I would like to place this function:

<?php the_date('Y/m/d/') ?>;

at the end of my a href url. Unfortunately, nothing has been working for me. I have tried directly placing it like this:

<a href="www.mysite.com/<?php the_date('Y/m/d/') ?>;>

I have also tried doing this:

$date = <?php the_date('Y/m/d/') ?>;
<a href="www.mysite.com/$date">

and this:

$date = <?php the_date('Y/m/d/') ?>;
<a href="www.mysite.com/' . urlencode($date) . '">

Any help would be much appreciated. I’ve looked EVERYWHERE on the web for this with no luck.