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Section 3: Remote operation
Series 2200 Programmable DC Power Supplies Reference Manual
3-4
2200S-901-01 Rev. C / March 2016
Command and query structure
Commands consist of set commands and query commands (usually simply called commands and
queries). Commands change power supply settings or perform a specific action. Queries cause the
power supply to return data and information about its status.
Most commands have both a set form and a query form. The query form of the command is the same
as the set form except that it ends with a question mark.
For example, the set command STATus:OPERation:ENAble has a query form
STATus:OPERation:ENAble?. Not all commands have both a set and a query form; some commands
are set only and some are query only.
A command message is a command or query name, followed by any information the power supply
needs to execute the command or query. Command messages consist of five different element types
described in the following table.
Command message elements
Symbol
Meaning
<Header>
The basic command name. If the header ends with a question mark, the command is a
query. The header may begin with a colon (:) character; if the command is concatenated
with other commands the beginning colon is required. The beginning colon can never be
used with command headers beginning with a star (*).
<Mnemonic>
A header subfunction. Some command headers have only one mnemonic. If a command
header has multiple mnemonics, they are always separated from each other by a colon
(:) character.
<Argument>
A quantity, quality, restriction, or limit associated with the header. Not all commands
have an argument, while other commands have multiple arguments. Arguments are
separated from the header by a <Space>. Arguments are separated from each other by
a <Comma>.
<Comma>
A single comma between arguments of multiple-argument commands. It may optionally
have white space characters before and after the comma.
<Space>
A white space character between command header and argument. It may optionally
consist of multiple white space characters.
The following figure shows the five command message elements.
Figure 12: Command message elements