What is the significance of the MIME type "text/plain" for .htaccess files in PHP?

The significance of setting the MIME type "text/plain" for .htaccess files in PHP is to ensure that the server correctly interprets the file as plain text and does not execute any PHP code within it. This is important for security reasons, as it prevents the server from inadvertently running any malicious code that may be present in the .htaccess file.

<FilesMatch "^\.ht">
    ForceType text/plain
</FilesMatch>