PI MS249E - GCS Commands; Notation; GCS Syntax for Syntax Version 2.0

8 GCS Commands
C-863.12 Mercury Controller MS249E Version: 1.2.1 115
8.1 Notation
The following notation is used to define the GCS syntax and to describe the commands:
<...>
Angle brackets indicate an argument of a command, can be an
element identifier or a command-specific parameter
[…]
Square brackets indicate an optional entry
{…}
Braces indicate a repetition of entries, i.e., that it is possible to
access more than one element (e.g., several axes) in one
command line.
LF
LineFeed (ASCII char #10), is the default termination character
(character at the end of a command line)
SP
Space (ASCII char #32), indicates a space character
"..."
Quotation marks indicate that the characters enclosed are
returned or to be entered.
8.2 GCS Syntax for Syntax Version 2.0
A GCS command consists of 3 characters, e.g., CMD. The corresponding query command has a
question mark at the end, e.g., CMD?
Command mnemonic:
CMD ::= character1 character2 character3 [?]
Exceptions:
▪ Single-character commands, e.g., fast query commands, consist only of one ASCII
character. The ASCII character is written as combination of # and the character code in
decimal format, e.g., as #24.
▪ *IDN? (for GPIB compatibility).
The command mnemonic is not case-sensitive. The command mnemonic and all arguments
(e.g., axis identifiers, channel identifiers, parameters, etc.) must be separated from each other
by a space (SP). The command line ends with the termination character (LF).
8 GCS Commands