Shell 条件判断中的空格

下面两段代码的不同，条件判断要加空格

#!/bin/bash
#获取输入
read -p "username:" USER
read -p "password:" PASSWORD

#验证
if [ $USER = "root" -a $PASSWORD = "root" ] #这里=号有空格正常判断
then
    echo "welcome!"
else
    echo "wrong username or password"
fi

#!/bin/bash
#获取输入
read -p "username:" USER
read -p "password:" PASSWORD

#验证
if [ $USER="root" -a $PASSWORD="root" ] #这里没有空格，判断错误
then
    echo "welcome!"
else
    echo "wrong username or password"
fi