SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller

SCL

SCL

Structured Control Language (SCL) is a high-level, PASCAL-based programming language for

the SIMATIC S7 CPUs. SCL supports the block structure of STEP 7. Your project can include
program blocks in any of the three programming languages: SCL, LAD, and FBD.
SCL instructions use standard programming operators, such as for assignment (:=),
mathematical functions (+ for addition, - for subtraction, * for multiplication, and / for division).
SCL also uses standard PASCAL program control operations, such as IF-THEN-ELSE, CASE,
REPEAT-UNTIL, GOTO and RETURN. You can use any PASCAL reference for syntactical elements
of the SCL programming language. Many of the other instructions for SCL, such as timers and
counters, match the LAD and FBD instructions. For more information about specific instructions,
refer to the specific instructions in the chapters for Basic instructions and Extended
instructions.
You can designate any type of block (OB, FB, or FC) to use the SCL programming language at
the time you create the block. STEP 7 provides an SCL program editor that includes the following
elements:
• Interface section for defining the parameters of the code block

• Code section for the program code

• Instruction tree that contains the SCL instructions supported by the CPU

You enter the SCL code for your instruction directly in the code section. The editor includes
buttons for common code constructs and comments. For more complex instructions, simply
drag the SCL instructions from the instruction tree and drop them into your program. You can
also use any text editor to create an SCL program and then import that file into STEP 7.

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In the Interface section of the SCL code block you can declare the following types of parameters:
• Input, Output, InOut, and Ret_Val: These parameters define the input tags, output tags, and return
value for the code block. The tag name that you enter here is used locally during the execution of
the code block. You typically would not use the global tag name in the tag table.

• Static (FBs only; the illustration above is for an FC): The code block uses static tags for storage of static
intermediate results in the instance data block. The block retains static data until overwritten, which
can be after several cycles. The names of the blocks, which this block calls as multi-instance, are also
stored in the static local data.

• Temp: These parameters are the temporary tags that are used during the execution of the code block.

If you call the SCL code block from another code block, the parameters of the SCL code block
appear as inputs or outputs.

In this example, the tags for "Start" and "On" (from the project tag table) correspond to
"StartStopSwitch" and "RunYesNo" in the declaration table of the SCL program.

Constructing an SCL expression

An SCL expression is a formula for calculating a value. The expression consists of operands and
operators (such as *, /, + or -). The operands can be tags, constants, or expressions.

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 SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
SCL

The evaluation of the expression occurs in a certain order, which is defined by the following
factors:
• Every operator has a pre-defined priority, with the highest-priority operation performed first.

• For operators with equal priority, the operators are processed in a left-to-right sequence.

• You use parentheses to designate a series of operators to be evaluated together.

The result of an expression can be used either for assigning a value to a tag used by your
program, as a condition to be used by a control statement, or as parameters for another SCL
instruction or for calling a code block.

Table 1 Operators in SCL

Type Operation Operator Priority

Parentheses (Expression) (,) 1

Math Power ** 2

Sign (unary plus) + 3

Sign (unary minus) - 3

Multiplication * 4

Division / 4

Modulo MOD 4

Addition + 5

Subtraction - 5

Comparison Less than < 6

Less than or equal to <= 6

Greater than > 6

Greater than or equal to >= 6

Equal to = 7

Not equal to <> 7

Bit logic Negation (unary) NOT 3

AND logic operation AND or & 8

Exclusive OR logic operation XOR 9

OR logic operation OR 10

Assignment Assignment := 11

As a high-level programming language, SCL uses standard statements for basic tasks:
• Assignment statement: :=

• Mathematical functions: +, -, *, and /

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SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
SCL

• Addressing of global variables (tags): "<tag name>" (Tag name or data block name enclosed in double
quotes)

• Addressing of local variables: #<variable name> (Variable name preceded by "#" symbol)

The following examples show different expressions for different uses.

"C" := #A+#B; Assigns the sum of two local variables to a tag

"Data_block_1".Tag := #A; Assignment to a data block tag
IF #A > #B THEN "C" := #A; Condition for the IF-THEN statement
"C" := SQRT (SQR (#A) + SQR (#B)); Parameters for the SQRT instruction

Arithmetic operators can process various numeric data types. The data type of the result is
determined by the data type of the most-significant operands. For example, a multiplication
operation that uses an INT operand and a REAL operand yields a REAL value for the result.

Control statements
A control statement is a specialized type of SCL expression that performs the following tasks:
• Program branching

• Repeating sections of the SCL program code

• Jumping to other parts of the SCL program

• Conditional execution

The SCL control statements include IF-THEN, CASE-OF, FOR-TO-DO, WHILE-DO, REPEAT-UNTIL,
CONTINUE, GOTO, and RETURN.
A single statement typically occupies one line of code. You can enter multiple statements on
one line, or you can break a statement into several lines of code to make the code easier to read.
Separators (such as tabs, line breaks and extra spaces) are ignored during the syntax check. An
END statement terminates the control statement.
The following examples show a FOR-TO-DO control statement. (Both forms of coding are
syntactically valid.)

FOR x := 0 TO max DO sum := sum + value(x); END_FOR;

FOR x := 0 TO max DO sum := sum + value(x); END_FOR;

A control statement can also be provided with a label. A label is set off by a colon at the beginning
of the statement:

Label: <Statement>;

The STEP 7 online help provides a complete SCL programming language reference.

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 SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
SCL

Conditions
A condition is a comparison expression or a logical expression whose result is of type BOOL
(with the value of either TRUE or FALSE). The following example shows conditions of various
types.

#Temperature > 50 Relational expression

#Counter <= 100

#CHAR1 < 'S'

(#Alpha <> 12) AND NOT #Beta Comparison and logical expression
5 + #Alpha Arithmetic expression

A condition can use arithmetic expressions:

• The condition of the expression is TRUE if the result is any value other than zero.

• The condition of the expression is FALSE if the result equals zero.

Addressing
As with LAD and FBD, SCL allows you to use either tags (symbolic addressing) or absolute
addresses in your user program. SCL also allows you to use a variable as an array index.

Absolute addressing
%I0.0 Precede absolute addresses with the "%" symbol. Without
the "%", STEP 7 generates an undefined tag error at
%MB100
compile time.

Symbolic addressing
"PLC_Tag_1" Tag in PLC tag table
"Data_block_1".Tag_1 Tag in a data block
"Data_block_1".MyArray[#i] Array element in a data block array

Indexed addressing with PEEK and POKE instructions

SCL provides PEEK and POKE instructions that allow you to read from or write to data blocks, I/
O, or memory. You provide parameters for specific byte offsets or bit offsets for the operation.

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SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
SCL

Note
To use the PEEK and POKE instructions with data blocks, you must use standard (not optimized)
data blocks. Also note that the PEEK and POKE instructions merely transfer data. They have no
knowledge of data types at the addresses.

PEEK Reads the byte referenced by byteOffset of the

(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse referenced data block, I/O or memory area.
t:=_in_); Example referencing data block:

%MB100 := PEEK(area:=16#84, dbNumber:=1,

byteOffset:=#i);

Example referencing IB3 input:

%MB100 := PEEK(area:=16#81, dbNumber:=0,

byteOffset:=#i); // when #i = 3
PEEK_WORD Reads the word referenced by byteOffset of the
(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse referenced data block, I/O or memory area.
t:=_in_); Example:

%MW200 := PEEK_WORD(area:=16#84,
dbNumber:=1, byteOffset:=#i);
PEEK_DWORD Reads the double word referenced by byteOffset of
(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse the referenced data block, I/O or memory area.
t:=_in_); Example:

%MD300 := PEEK_DWORD(area:=16#84,
dbNumber:=1, byteOffset:=#i);
PEEK_BOOL Reads a Boolean referenced by the bitOffset and
(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse byteOffset of the referenced data block, I/O or
t:=_in_, bitOffset:=_in_); memory area
Example:

%MB100.0 := PEEK_BOOL(area:=16#84,
dbNumber:=1, byteOffset:=#ii, bitOffset:=#j);

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 SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
SCL

POKE Writes the value (Byte, Word, or DWord) to the

(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse referenced byteOffset of the referenced data block,
t:=_in_, value:=_in_); I/O or memory area
Example referencing data block:

POKE(area:=16#84, dbNumber:=2, byteOffset:=3,

value:="Tag_1");

Example referencing QB3 output:

POKE(area:=16#82, dbNumber:=0, byteOffset:=3,

value:="Tag_1");
POKE_BOOL Writes the Boolean value to the referenced bitOffset
(area:=_in_, dbNumber:=_in_, byteOffse and byteOffset of the referenced data block, I/O or
t:=_in_, bitOffset:=_in_, value:=_in_); memory area
Example:

POKE_BOOL(area:=16#84, dbNumber:=2,
byteOffset:=3, bitOffset:=5, value:=0);
POKE_BLK Writes "count" number of bytes starting at the
(area_src:=_in_, dbNumber_src:=_in_, b referenced byte Offset of the referenced source
yteOffset_src:=_in_, area_dest:=_in_, db data block, I/O or memory area to the referenced
Number_dest:=_in_, byteOffset_dest:=_in_, byteOffset of the referenced destination data block,
count:=_in_); I/O or memory area
Example:

POKE_BLK(area_src:=16#84,
dbNumber_src:=#src_db,
byteOffset_src:=#src_byte, area_dest:=16#84,
dbNumber_dest:=#src_db,
byteOffset_dest:=#src_byte, count:=10);

For PEEK and POKE instructions, the following values for the "area", "area_src" and "area_dest"
parameters are applicable. For areas other than data blocks, the dbNumber parameter must be
0.

16#81 I

16#82 Q

16#83 M

16#84 DB

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SIMATIC S7 S7-1200 Programmable controller
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Calling other code blocks from your SCL program

To call another code block in your user program, simply enter the name (or absolute address)
of the FB or FC with the parameters. For an FB, you must provide the instance DB to be called
with the FB.

<DB name> (Parameter list) Call as a single instance

<#Instance name> (Parameter list) Call as multi-instance

"MyDB"(MyInput:=10, MyInOut:="Tag1");

<FC name> (Parameter list) Standard call

<Operand>:=<FC name> (Parameter list) Call in an expression

"MyFC"(MyInput:=10, MyInOut:="Tag1");

You can also drag blocks from the navigation tree to the SCL program editor, and complete the
parameter assignment.

Adding block comments to SCL code

You can include a block comment in your SCL code by including the comment text between (*
and *). You can have any number of comment lines between the (* and the *). Your SCL
program block can include many block comments. For programming convenience, the SCL
editor includes a block comment button along with common control statements:

See also
→ Basic instructions
→ Extended instructions
→ Using blocks to structure your program

This document constitutes a free excerpt compiled by the user himself/herself from the documentation provided by Siemens for this product. Siemens disclaims all
liability for the completeness of this document. It shall only be used for the user's own internal purposes. It shall not be passed on to third parties.
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