[WordPress] Touch a File (Before Creating It)

touch-example.php

<?php

// Assume that $name is specified earlier in the code
$filename = dirname( __FILE__ ) . "/$name.json";

// If the is able to be touched, we're good to go...
if ( touch ( $filename ) ) {
	// We're able to write to the file
} else {
	// There was a problem trying to write to the file
}