A string is a data type used in programming to represent a sequence of characters. It can contain letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation, and whitespace. In the context of digital remote control, strings are the primary format for sending commands and receiving data.
For example, the SCPI command SOUR:VOLT 12.5 is a string sent to a power supply to set the output voltage. Even though "12.5" represents a number, the entire command is treated as a text string by the communication protocol.
When an instrument sends back a response, it is often in the form of a string (e.g., "1.234E+01"). The control program must receive this string and parse it to extract the numerical value for further calculation or logging. In most programming languages, strings are enclosed in quotation marks (either single ' or double
") to distinguish them from variable names or numerical data types.