Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments

[3] SCPI was defined as an additional layer on top of the IEEE 488.2-1987 specification "Standard Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Common Commands".

[4] The standard specifies a common syntax, command structure, and data formats, to be used with all instruments.

For example, any controllable power supply would implement the same DCPSUPPLY base functionality class.

[5] While it was originally created for the IEEE-488.1 (GPIB) bus,[5] SCPI can also be used with RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, USB, Ethernet, VXIbus, HiSLIP, etc.

[5] SCPI commands are ASCII textual strings,[5] which are sent to the instrument over the physical layer.

The specification was originally released as non-free printed manuals, then later as one free PDF file that includes all four volumes.

[7] In 2002-2003, the SCPI Consortium voted to become part of the IVI Foundation (Interchangeable Virtual Instruments).

Commands to control the same class of instrument, e.g., multimeters, would vary between manufacturers and even models.

command runs a self-calibration routine on some equipment, and then returns the results of the calibration.

The command syntax shows some characters in a mixture of upper and lower case.

For example, is a shorthand for the message Some commands accept or require one or more additional arguments.

For commands that accept integer arguments, values may be specified in multiple computer number formats: decimal, hexadecimal, octal, binary.

A user should check the official programmers manual for each device before assuming all of these 488.2 commands are supported.