Remote Control 
  Copyright © Itech Electronic Co., Ltd.  2 
you access the commands located along the various paths. 
 
 
Multiple commands in a message 
Multiple SCPI commands can be combined and sent as a single 
message with one message terminator. There are two important 
considerations when sending several commands within a single 
message: 
  Use a semicolon to separate commands within a message. 
  Head paths influence how the instrument interprets commands. 
We consider the head path as a string which will be inserted in front of 
every command of a message. As for the first command of a message, 
the head path is a null string; for each subsequent command, the head 
path is a string which is defined to form the current command until and 
including the head of the last colon separator. A message with two 
combined commands: CURR:LEV 3;PROT:STAT OFF 
The example indicates the effect of semicolon and explains the concept 
of head path. Since the head path is defined to be "CURR" after "curr: lev 
3", the head of the second command, "curr", is deleted and the 
instrument explains the second command as: CURR:PROT:STAT OFF 
If "curr" is explicitly included in the second command, it is semantically 
wrong. Since combining it with the head path will become 
"CURR:CURR:PROT:STAT OFF", resulting in wrong command. 
Movement in the subsystem 
In order to combine commands from different subsystems, you need to 
be able to reset the header path to a null string within a message. You do 
this by beginning the command with a colon (:), which discards any 
previous header path. For example, you could clear the output protection 
and check the status of the Operation Condition register in one message 
by using a root specifier as follows: 
PROTection:CLEAr;:STATus:OPERation:CONDition? 
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