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Series 3700 System Switch/Multimeter Reference Manual
Section 9
:
Instrument Control Library (ICL)
Document Number: 3700S-901-01 Rev. A / August 2007
9-129
format.data
Attribute
The data format for data printed using the printnumber and printbuffer functions.
Usage
To read data format:
fmt = format.data
To write data format:
format.data = fmt
fmt
:
Set to one of the following values:
1
or
format.ASCII
ASCII format.
2
or
format.SREAL
Single precision IEEE-754 binary format.
2
or
format.REAL32
Single precision IEEE-754 binary format.
3
or
format.REAL
Double precision IEEE-754 binary format.
3
or
format.REAL64
Double precision IEEE-754 binary format.
Remarks
This attribute selects the data format used to print data values with the printnumber
and printbuffer functions.
The precision of the ASCII format can be controlled with the
format.asciiprecision
(on page 9-127) attribute. The byte order of SREAL, REAL, REAL32, and REAL64
can be selected with the
format.byteorder
(on page 9-128) attribute.
REAL32 and SREAL select the same single precision format. REAL and REAL64
select the same double precision format. They are alternative identifiers. Selecting
which to use is a matter of preference.
The IEEE-754 binary formats use 4 bytes each for single precision values and 8
bytes each for double precision values.
When data is written with any of the binary formats, the response message will start
with "#0" and end with a new line. When data is written with the ASCII format,
elements will be separated with a comma and space.
Also see
format.asciiprecision
(on page 9-127)
format.byteorder
(on page 9-128)
printbuffer
(on page 9-155)
printnumber
Example
Selects the ASCII data format:
format.data = format.ASCII