I need to check the size of a log file. If the size is anything but zero, I need to send an email. I'm using this syntax:

SIZE=0
VAR1=`wc -c $DIRNAME/$FILENAME1 | awk -F" " '{print $1}' `

echo $VAR1
if [ $VAR1 -ne $SIZE ]
then
do something such as send an email
fi


I know that the file is indeed blank, but the VAR1 variable has a size = 8192. Any ideas as to what the problem is? Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks in advance.