User`s guide

238 53220A/53230A User’s Guide
7 Formats and Data Flow
Reading Formats and Data Flow
A (counter) data format is specified when a particular format (ASCII, REAL)
is required. The data is converted to that format when sent to the output
buffer directly, or when transferred from reading memory.
The command used to set the data format is:
FORMat[:DATA] {ASCII|REAL}[,<length>]
FORMat[:DATA]? (query form)
The formats (and lengths) are described in Table 7-1.
Table 7-1. Counter Data Formats
Type Representation
Length
ASCII +4.57538162393720E+006 15
(digits)
REAL
definite length or indefinite length arbitrary block format
64
(bits)
Format ASCII are ASCII characters. Each reading is comma-separated. The instrument
always returns 15 significant digits.
Format REAL is IEEE 754 binary data (64-bit). The data may be transferred in IEEE 488.2
indefinite-length or definite-length block format. Byte order is controlled by the
FORMat:BORDer command.
Indefinite-Length Block: # 0 < 8-bit data bytes > NL ^END
(using MEASure?, READ?, FETCh?)
Definite-Length Block: # <non-zero digit> <block length> <8-bit data bytes>
(using R?, DATA:REMove?)
<non-zero digit> indicates the number of digits representing <block length>. <block
length> indicates the number of 8-bit data bytes which follow.