Always gives false even though file exists and is not empty

I have a bash script:

echo " enter file name "
read $file
if [ -f "$file" ] && [ -s "$file" ]
then 
   echo " file does not exist, or is empty "
else
   echo " file exists and is not empty "
fi

No matter what I enter as a $file, it gives me the false value. I can even enter a file that does not even exist; it still will give me the false value. Why is that?

It is enough to check for -s, because it says:

> FILE exists and has a size greater than zero

http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?test

also your output is switched, so it outputs does not exists when a file exists, because -s will give TRUE if file exists AND has a size > 0.

So correctly you should use:

echo " enter file name "
read file
if [ -s "$file" ]
then 
   echo " file exists and is not empty "
else
   echo " file does not exist, or is empty "
fi

This will give you the expected output.

Also it should be

read file

instead of

read $file

If you want further informations, I recommand reading man test and man read

Please note, that [ -f "$file" ] && [ -s "$file" ] will return true if file exists and is not empty.

Other option:

if [[ -f "/path/to/file" && -s "/path/to/file" ]]; then 
    echo "exist and not empty"
else 
    echo "not exist or empty"; 
fi

This is the true solution:

if [[ -f $file && -s $file ]]

With [[ the quotes are unnecessary because [[ handles empty strings and strings with whitespace more intuitively.

The solution that was proposed to you:

if [ -s "$file" ]

is wrong because it is instead equivalent to:

if [[ -e $file && -s $file ]]

which, in addition to the regular files dictated by the word -f, also looks for:

1. Directory
2. Symbolic Link
3. Block Special Device
4. Character Device
5. Unix Socket (local domain socket)
6. Named Pipe