Instructions
UM-0085-B09  DT80 Range User Manual  Page 351 
RG 
Control String – Output Actions 
The table below lists the ways in which prompts and text strings can be sent from the DT80 to the device connected to 
the Serial Channel. These commands must be enclosed by 
{} in the control string. 
What to output 
Output Action syntax 
Description 
Text 
text 
e.g. abc\009def\013, 
GETVAL^M^J 
A sequence of characters to be sent. 
Non-printable characters may be specified using \nnn (where 
nnn is the ASCII code, 1-255). ^char notation may also be 
used for control characters (ASCII 1-31), see ASCII-Decimal 
Table (P389). 
Break character 
\b[n] or 
\b[nCV] 
Transmit a "break" (set the Tx line to logic-0 state) for n or nCV 
character periods 
Control signal 
\r1 
Set 
RTS
 (to a value >+3.5V) – RS232 only 
\r0 
Clear RTS (to a value <–3.5V) – RS232 only 
(Wait) 
\w[n] or 
\w[nCV] 
Delay for n or nCV milliseconds. Actual delay time will be 
approximately 2ms or 2 character times, whichever is longer. 
reserved 
characters 
\% or \{ or \} 
Output a %, { or } character. (
%%
 may also be used to output a 
single % character.) 
CV value 
%{flag}{width}.{precision}type[nCV] 
e.g. %d[2CV] or %9.3f[7CV] or 
%06d[1CV] 
Output the value of nCV in the specified numeric format (see 
below). Note that { } signifies "optional" 
string value 
%{flag}{width}.{precision}s[n$] 
e.g. 
%s[1$] or %-9.9s[2$]
Output the value of string variable n$ 
Numeric Formats 
This table describes the possible values for type – that is, the different ways in which a CV value can be converted into a 
string of characters. 
Type 
Description 
Example, assumes 1CV = 74.36 
f 
floating point 
1SERIAL("{%f[1CV]}") → 74.36 
e 
floating point, exponential format 
1SERIAL("{%e[1CV]}") → 7.436e01 
E 
floating point, exponential format 
1SERIAL("{%E[1CV]}") → 7.436E01 
g 
f or e format depending on value 
1SERIAL("{%g[1CV]}") → 74.36 
G 
f
 or 
E
 format depending on value 
1SERIAL("{%G[1CV]}") → 74.36 
d 
integer 
1SERIAL("{%d[1CV]}") → 74 
x 
hexadecimal integer 
1SERIAL("{%x[1CV]}") → 4a 
X 
hexadecimal integer 
1SERIAL("{%X[1CV]}") → 4A 
o 
octal integer 
1SERIAL("{%o[1CV]}") → 112 
c 
single character 
1SERIAL("{%c[1CV]}") → J 
Note that 
•  The 
%c conversion outputs the value of nCV as a single 8-bit character. Only the lower 8 bits of the integer 
portion of n
CV are output. So in the above example the character value 74 (ASCII "J") will be sent. 
•  The 
%g and %G conversions select exponential notation if the exponent is less than –4, or greater than or equal 
to the specified  
Width, Precision and Flag 
The various conversion types described above can be further qualified using the optional width, precision and flag 
specifiers. These allow you to control exactly how the transmitted data will be formatted. 
  Field Width 
The width value specifies the minimum output field width – that is, the minimum number of characters that will be 
output. If the converted value requires fewer characters than the specified field width, then space or zero characters are 
used to pad the field to the specified width. If the converted value results in more characters than the specified field 
width, then all characters will still be output. The width parameter is not applicable for the 
%c conversion type. 










