Introduction to the SCPI Language
Command Separators
A colon ( : ) is used to separate a command keyword from a lower-level keyword. You must insert a blank space to sep-
arate a parameter from a command keyword. If a command requires more than one parameter, you must separate
adjacent parameters using a comma as shown below:
APPL:SIN 455E3,1.15,0.0
In this example, the APPLy command is specifying a Sine wave at a frequency of 455 KHz, with an amplitude of 1.15
volts, and a DC offset of 0.0 volts.
A semicolon ( ; ) is used to separate commands within the same subsystem, and can also minimize typing. For exam-
ple, sending the following command string:
TRIG:SOUR EXT; COUNT 10
is the same as sending the following two commands:
TRIG:SOUR EXT
TRIG:COUNT 10
Using the MIN, MAX, and DEF Parameters
For many commands, you can substitute "MIN" or "MAX" in place of a parameter. In some cases you may also sub-
stitute "DEF". For example, consider the following command:
[SOURce[1|2]:]APPLy:DC [{<frequency>|DEF} [,{<amplitude>|DEF} [,{<offset>|MIN|MAX|DEF}]]]
Instead of selecting a specific value for the <offset> parameter, you can substitute MIN to set the offset to its mini-
mum value, MAX to set the offset to its maximum value. You can also specify DEF to set the default value for each
parameter: <frequency>, <amplitude>, and <offset>.
Querying Parameter Settings
You can query the current value of most parameters by adding a questionmark (?) to the command. For example, the
following command sets the trigger count to 10 readings:
TRIG:COUN 10
You can then query the count value by sending:
TRIG:COUN?
You can also query the minimum or maximum count allowed as follows:
TRIG:COUN? MIN
TRIG:COUN? MAX
152 Agilent 33500 Series Operating and Service Guide
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