Keithley 2002 Getting Started Manual page 62

3-8 IEEE-488 Bus Operation
A command summary table is a way of documenting SCPI commands, but it does not show
complete command names. A complete command is formed by joining the components. For ex-
ample, the complete
SENSe1:VOLTage:DC:REFerence:STATe
Note that square brackets are not part of the command; they indicate optional parts of the
command.
This hierarchical approach permits the same command to be used many times. For example,
many subsystems contain a
command is unique. This is analogous to having a file named INDEX.TXT, for example, in each
directory of your computer's hard disk. Although the files have the same name, they are unique
because they are each in a different directory.
Long and short form commands
Every SCPI command has a short form, and most also have a long form. The notation used
in documentation shows the short form in upper case, with the remainder of the name, which
creates the long form, shown in lower case. There are no intermediate forms of the command
name - you must send the exact short or long form. However, you do not have to use the mixed
capitalization - the Model 2002 accepts commands in any combination of upper and lower case.
For example, all of the following are valid forms of the
mand:
sense1:voltage:dc:reference:state
sens1:volt:dc:ref:stat
SENS1:volt:DC:rEFErENCe:STat
command in the example is:
:STATe
command, but each one is unique because the complete
:STATe
SENSe1:VOLTage:DC:REFerence
com-