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Programming
Reviewing SCPI Syntax Rules
OUTPUT 720;”:MEAS:SCAL:POW? MAX”
Programs written in long form are easily read and are almost self-doc-
umenting. Using short form commands conserves the amount of con-
troller memory needed for program storage and reduces the amount of
I/O activity.
The rules for creating short forms from the long form is as follows:
The mnemonic is the first four characters of the keyword unless the
fourth character is a vowel, in which case the mnemonic is the first
three characters of the keyword.
This rule is not used if the length of the keyword is exactly four char-
acters.
You can use upper or lowercase letters
Program headers can be sent using any combination of uppercase or
lowercase ASCII characters. Instrument responses, however, are always
returned in uppercase.
Combine commands in the same subsystem
You can combine commands from the same subsystem provided that
they are both on the same level in the subsystem’s hierarchy. Simply
separate the commands with a semi-colon (;). For example, the follow-
ing two lines,
OUTPUT 720;”:CALC2:PEXC 12”
OUTPUT 720;”:CALC2:PTHR 20”
can be combined into one line:
OUTPUT 720;”:CALC2:PEXC 12;PTHR 20”
The semicolon separates the two functions.
Table 3-8. Examples of Short Forms
Long Form Equivalent Short Form
ROUTE ROUT
LAYER LAY
SYSTEM SYST
ERROR ERR