Mike Robbins lays out an argument:
If you ever formatted a hash table in PowerShell, you know how easy it is to focus on function over form. But what if one minor formatting tweak could improve readability, reduce syntax errors, simplify code reviews, and enhance script maintainability? During a recent documentation update, I stumbled on a subtle but powerful practice—aligning the equals signs in hash tables. What began as a style suggestion proved to be a practical improvement that changed how I write PowerShell every day. Here’s why this seemingly minor change deserves a place in your scripting toolbox.
Click through to learn why. This doesn’t apply only to hash tables in Powershell, of course, so you could take this concrete example and extend it to other situations. As an example, this is a very common pattern for managing lengthy configuration files for the same reasons Mike points out. Just as long as your programming language is okay with extra whitespace around the equal sign (or equivalent), you can do this.