The SCPI commands are organized in a tree structure. For example:
Each tree structure forms a functional system. The base of the tree is called the root, e.g. MEASure and SYSTem. Each functional system can have subsystems of lower level. The final nodes are called leaves. The entire sequence from root to leaf makes up the command. For example, part of the SOURCe functional system looks as follows:
:SOURce
:POWer
:CENTer
:STARt
:SPAN
:STOP
[:LEVel]
:SLOPe
[:DATA]
:STATe
This SOURce branch has several levels, where CENTer, STARt, SPAN, STOP, DATA, STATe are the leaves, which represent the following six commands:
:SOURce:POWer:CENTer
:SOURce:POWer:STARt
:SOURce:POWer:SPAN
:SOURce:POWer:STOP
:SOURce:POWer[:LEVel]:SLOPe[:DATA]
:SOURce:POWer[:LEVel]:SLOPe:STATe
The tree can contain subsystems and leaves with the same names if they belong to different branches, e.g. CENTer leaf is on the tips of different branches:
:SOURce :POWer :CENTer |
:SENSe :FREQuency :CENTer |