What role does data formatting play in writing data to files in PHP scripts?

Data formatting plays a crucial role in writing data to files in PHP scripts as it ensures that the data is structured correctly and can be easily read and interpreted. Without proper formatting, the data may be jumbled or unreadable. To solve this issue, data should be formatted using functions like `json_encode()` or `serialize()` before writing it to a file.

$data = ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30, 'city' => 'New York'];
$formatted_data = json_encode($data);

$file = fopen('data.txt', 'w');
fwrite($file, $formatted_data);
fclose($file);