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SCPI
SCPI （Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments） is a standardized instrument programming language that
builds on existing standards IEEE 488.1 and IEEE 488.2 and follows the floating point rules of IEEE 754 standard, ISO
646 message exchange 7-bit encoding notation (equivalent to ASCII programming) and many other standards.
This section introduces the format, symbols, parameters, and abbreviations of the SCPI command.
Instruction Format
The SCPI command is a tree-like hierarchy consisting of multiple subsystems, each subsystem consisting of a
root keyword and one or more hierarchical key words. The command line usually begins with a colon ":"; Keywords
are separated by the colon ":", followed by optional parameter settings. The command keyword is separated by
spaces from the first parameter. The command string must end with a newline <NL> character. Add the question
mark "? " after the command line. It is usually indicated that this feature is being queried.
Symbol Description
The following four symbols are not part of the SCPI command. They cannot be sent with the command, but they
are commonly used for supplementary specification.
Braces { }
It usually contains multiple optional parameter, one of which must be selected when send a command.
For example, the command :DISPlay:GRID:MODE { FULL | GRID | CROSS | NONE}
Vertical Bar |
It is used to separate multiple parameters, one of which must be selected when send a command.
For example, the command :DISPlay:GRID:MODE { FULL | GRID | CROSS | NONE}
Square Brackets [ ]
The contents in square brackets (command keywords) can be omitted. If the parameter is omitted, the
instrument will set the parameter to the default value.
For example, the command :MEASure:NDUTy? [<source>], [<source>] represents the current channel.
Angle Braces < >
The parameter enclosed in the angle brackets must be replaced by an effective value.
For example, use the command DISPlay:GRID:BRIGhtness 30 to send the command DISPlay:GRID:BRIGhtness
<count>
Parameter Description
The parameter in this manual can be divided into five types: Boolean, Integer, Real, Discrete and ASCII.
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