Owner manual

3-22

ABC 040104

FIGURE 3-4. MESSAGE STRUCTURE

3.7.4.2 KEYWORD SEPARATOR

If a command has two or more keywords, adjacent keywords must be separated by a colon (:)

which acts as the keyword separator (e.g., CURR:LEV:TRIG). The colon can also act as a root

specifier (paragraph 3.7.4.7).

3.7.4.3 QUERY INDICATOR

The question mark (?) following a keyword is a query indicator. This changes the command into

a query. If there is more than one keyword in the command, the query indicator follows the last

keyword. (e.g., VOLT? and MEAS:CURR?).

TABLE 3-7. RULES GOVERNING SHORTFORM KEYWORDS

IF NUMBER OF LETTERS IN

LONGFORM KEYWORD IS:

AND FOURTH LETTER

IS A VOWEL?

THEN SHORT FORM

CONSISTS OF:

EXAMPLES

4 OR FEWER (DOES NOT MATTER) ALL LONG FORM LETTERS MODE

5 OR MORE

THE FIRST FOUR

LONG FORM LETTERS

MEASure, OUTPut, EVENt

YES

THE FIRST THREE

LONG FORM LETTERS

LEVel, IMMediate, ERRor

CURR:LEV 3.5;:OUTP ON;:CURR?<NL>

MESSAGE TERMINATOR

KEYWORD

QUERY INDICATOR

ROOT SPECIFIER

MESSAGE UNIT SEPARATOR

DATA

KEYWORD

KEYWORD SEPARATOR

KEYWORD

MESSAGE UNIT SEPARATOR

DATA

MESSAGE UNIT

DATA SEPARATOR

ROOT SPECIFIER