Programming instructions

Command Reference
SCPI Basics
Chapter 4142
Command Types
Commands can be separated into two groups: common commands and subsystem commands.
Figure 4-1, shows the separation of the two command groups.
Common commands are used to manage macros, status registers, synchronization, and data
storage and are defined by IEEE 488.2. They are easy to recognize because they all begin with
an asterisk. For example *IDN?, *OPC, and *RST are common commands. Common commands
are not part of any subsystem and the signal generator interprets them in the same way,
regardless of the current path setting.
Subsystem commands are distinguished by the colon (:). The colon is used at the beginning of
a command statement and between keywords, as in :FREQuency[:CW?]. Each command
subsystem is a set of commands that roughly correspond to a functional block inside the
signal generator. For example, the power subsystem (:POWer) contains commands for power
generation, while the status subsystem (:STATus)contains commands for controlling status
registers.
Figure 4-1 Command Types