HP E1367A - Manual (Page 38)

Command Separator A colon (:) always separates one command from the next lower-level
command as shown below:
ROUTe:SCAN:MODE?
Colons separate the root command from the second-level command
(
[ROUTe:]SCAN ) and the second level from the third level ( SCAN:MODE? ).
Abbreviated
Commands
The command syntax shows most commands as a mixture of upper- and
lowercase letters. The uppercase letters indicate the abbreviated spelling for
the command. For shorter program lines, send the abbreviated form. For
better program readability, you may send the entire command. The
instrument will accept either the abbreviated form or the entire command.
For example, if the command syntax shows MEASure , then MEAS and
MEASURE are both acceptable forms. Other forms of MEASure , such as
MEASU or MEASUR will generate an error. You may use upper- or
lowercase letters. Therefore, MEASURE , measure, and MeAsUrE are all
acceptable.
Implied Commands Implied commands are those which appear in square brackets ( [ ] ) in the
command syntax. (Note that the brackets are not part of the command and
are not sent to the instrument.) Suppose you send a second-level command
but do not send the preceding implied command. In this case, the
instrument assumes you intend to use the implied command and it responds
as if you had sent it. Examine the
SOURce subsystem shown below:
[SOURce:]
PULSe
:COUNt < count >
:COUNt? []
:PERiod <
period >
:PERiod? []
The root command SOURce: is an implied command. To set the
instrument’s pulse count to 25, you can send either of the following
command statements:
SOUR:PULS:COUN 25 or PULS:COUN 25
38 HP E1366A/E1367A RF Multiplexers Command Reference Chapter 5