| A Brief Introduction to the SCPI Language |
| SCPI Language Basics |
<trace> | Is an array of rational numbers corresponding to displayed trace data. See |
| FORMat:DATA for information about available data formats. |
| A SCPI command often refers to a block of current trace data with a variable name |
| such as: Trace1, TRACE2, or trace3, depending on which trace is being accessed. |
<arbitrary block data> Consists of a block of data bytes. The first information sent in the block is an ASCII header beginning with #. The block is terminated with a
Block data example: suppose the header is #512320.
•The first digit in the header (5) tells you how many additional digits/bytes there are in the header.
•The 12320 means 12 thousand, 3 hundred, 20 data bytes follow the header.
•Divide this number of bytes by your current data format (bytes/data point), either 8 (for real,64), or 4 (for real,32). For this example, if you’re using real64 then there are 1540 points in the block.
Putting Multiple Commands on the Same Line
Multiple commands can be written on the same line, reducing your code space requirement. To do this:
•Commands must be separated with a semicolon (;).
•If the commands are in different subsystems, the key word for the new subsystem must be preceded by a colon (:).
•If the commands are in the same subsystem, the full hierarchy of the command key words need not be included. The second command can start at the same key word level as the command that was just executed.
SCPI Termination and Separator Syntax
All binary trace and response data is terminated with <NL><END>, as defined in Section 8.5 of IEEE Standard
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