Agilent Technologies N1996A-503 User Reference page 300

Programming Fundamentals
SCPI Language Basics
executed.
SCPI Termination and Separator Syntax
A terminator must be provided when an instrument is controlled. Most
interfaces automatically provide a terminator. A semicolon (;) is not a
SCPI terminator, it is a separator. The purpose of the separator is to
queue multiple commands or queries in order to obtain multiple actions
and/or responses.
All binary trace and response data is terminated with <NL><END>, as
defined in Section 8.5 of IEEE Standard 488.2-1992, IEEE Standard
Codes, Formats, Protocols and Common Commands for Use with
ANSI/IEEE Std 488.1-1987. New York, NY, 1992. (Although one intent
of SCPI is to be interface independent, <END> is only defined for IEEE
488 operation.)
The following are some examples of good and bad commands. The
examples are created from a theoretical instrument with the simple set
of commands indicated below:
[:SENSe]
:POWer
[:RF]
:ATTenuation 40dB
:TRIGger
[:SEQuence]
:EXTernal [1]
:SLOPe
POSitive
[:SENSe]
:FREQuency
:STARt
:POWer
[:RF]
:MIXer
:RANGe
[:UPPer]
Bad Command
PWR:ATT 40dB
The short form of POWER is POW, not PWR.
FREQ:STAR 30MHz;MIX:RANG
-20dBm
The MIX:RANG command is in the same :SENSE subsystem as FREQ, but
executing the FREQ command puts you back at the SENSE level. You must
specify POW to get to the MIX:RANG command.
300
Good Command
POW:ATT 40dB
FREQ:STAR
30MHz;POW:MIX:RANG -20dBm
Chapter 5