Question

this is a bash script. im getting the error in the if statement line

# 2. read a line of input from the keyboard
   read answer

    if [-z "$answer"]
    then
        $answer=$default
    else
        $default=$answer
    fi

i don’t do much bash anymore, i can’t see the error, ive tried

if [-z "$answer"]; then

and that failed as well with the same error. can anyone else see the error?

EDIT UPDATE
i changed it to this

read answer

        if [ -z "$answer" ]
        then
            $answer=$defaultEntry
        else
            $defaultEntry=$answer
        fi

and the same error occures

Answer 1

simply leave spaces between the brackets and condition:

if [ -z "$answer" ]