General :: Evaluate Size Of Output Command?

I'm trying to do something like this:

Code:
#!/bin/bash
cmd1=$(cat /var/log/messages | grep -e 'blocked for more than 120 seconds' | cut -c 55-62)
if $cmd1 != 0; then echo 'okay'; fi

however i'm messing up somewhere... bash attempts to evaluate the elements in cmd1. when I try to run this script it complains saying:

Quote:

test1.sh: line 5: blocked: command not found

I am open to alternatives. My intent is to replace cat /var/log/messages with dmesg, so I can attempt to determine if a problematic application I use encounters a blocked state (unresponsive for more than 120 seconds).

Should I be using a different test condition? I tried something like:

Code:
# this declares cmd1 as an array
cmd1=($(cat /var/log/messages | grep -e 'blocked for more than 120 seconds' | cut -c 55-62))
#attempt to determine if number of elements in array is greater than zero
if ${#cmd1[@]} > 0; then echo okay; fi

But I get the same error... what am I doing wrong?