1dcmdump(1)                        OFFIS DCMTK                       dcmdump(1)
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NAME

6       dcmdump - Dump DICOM file and data set
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8

SYNOPSIS

10       dcmdump [options] dcmfile-in...
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DESCRIPTION

13       The  dcmdump utility dumps the contents of a DICOM file (file format or
14       raw data set) to stdout in textual form.  Attributes  with  very  large
15       value  fields  (e.g.  pixel  data)  can be described as '(not loaded)'.
16       String value fields will be delimited with square brackets ([]).  Known
17       UIDs  will be displayed by their names prefixed by an equals sign (e.g.
18       '=MRImageStorage') unless this mapping  would  be  explicitly  switched
19       off. Empty value fields are described as '(no value available)'.
20
21       If dcmdump reads a raw data set (DICOM data without a file format meta-
22       header) it will attempt to guess the transfer syntax by  examining  the
23       first  few  bytes  of  the file. It is not always possible to correctly
24       guess the transfer syntax and it is better to convert a data set  to  a
25       file  format  whenever possible (using the dcmconv utility). It is also
26       possible to use the -f and -t[ieb] options to force dcmdump to  read  a
27       dataset with a particular transfer syntax.
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PARAMETERS

30       dcmfile-in  DICOM input file or directory to be dumped
31

OPTIONS

33   general options
34         -h   --help
35                print this help text and exit
36
37              --version
38                print version information and exit
39
40              --arguments
41                print expanded command line arguments
42
43         -q   --quiet
44                quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
45
46         -v   --verbose
47                verbose mode, print processing details
48
49         -d   --debug
50                debug mode, print debug information
51
52         -ll  --log-level  [l]evel: string constant
53                (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
54                use level l for the logger
55
56         -lc  --log-config  [f]ilename: string
57                use config file f for the logger
58
59   input options
60       input file format:
61
62         +f   --read-file
63                read file format or data set (default)
64
65         +fo  --read-file-only
66                read file format only
67
68         -f   --read-dataset
69                read data set without file meta information
70
71       input transfer syntax:
72
73         -t=  --read-xfer-auto
74                use TS recognition (default)
75
76         -td  --read-xfer-detect
77                ignore TS specified in the file meta header
78
79         -te  --read-xfer-little
80                read with explicit VR little endian TS
81
82         -tb  --read-xfer-big
83                read with explicit VR big endian TS
84
85         -ti  --read-xfer-implicit
86                read with implicit VR little endian TS
87
88       input files:
89
90         +sd  --scan-directories
91                scan directories for input files (dcmfile-in)
92
93         +sp  --scan-pattern  [p]attern: string (only with --scan-directories)
94                pattern for filename matching (wildcards)
95
96                # possibly not available on all systems
97
98         -r   --no-recurse
99                do not recurse within directories (default)
100
101         +r   --recurse
102                recurse within specified directories
103
104       long tag values:
105
106         +M   --load-all
107                load very long tag values (default)
108
109         -M   --load-short
110                do not load very long values (e.g. pixel data)
111
112         +R   --max-read-length  [k]bytes: integer (4..4194302, default: 4)
113                set threshold for long values to k kbytes
114
115       parsing of file meta information:
116
117         +ml  --use-meta-length
118                use file meta information group length (default)
119
120         -ml  --ignore-meta-length
121                ignore file meta information group length
122
123       parsing of odd-length attributes:
124
125         +ao  --accept-odd-length
126                accept odd length attributes (default)
127
128         +ae  --assume-even-length
129                assume real length is one byte larger
130
131       handling of explicit VR:
132
133         +ev  --use-explicit-vr
134                use explicit VR from dataset (default)
135
136         -ev  --ignore-explicit-vr
137                ignore explicit VR (prefer data dictionary)
138
139       handling of non-standard VR:
140
141         +vr  --treat-as-unknown
142                treat non-standard VR as unknown (default)
143
144         -vr  --assume-implicit
145                try to read with implicit VR little endian TS
146
147       handling of undefined length UN elements:
148
149         +ui  --enable-cp246
150                read undefined len UN as implicit VR (default)
151
152         -ui  --disable-cp246
153                read undefined len UN as explicit VR
154
155       handling of defined length UN elements:
156
157         -uc  --retain-un
158                retain elements as UN (default)
159
160         +uc  --convert-un
161                convert to real VR if known
162
163       handling of private max-length elements (implicit VR):
164
165         -sq  --maxlength-dict
166                read as defined in dictionary (default)
167
168         +sq  --maxlength-seq
169                read as sequence with undefined length
170
171       handling of wrong delimitation items:
172
173         -rd  --use-delim-items
174                use delimitation items from dataset (default)
175
176         +rd  --replace-wrong-delim
177                replace wrong sequence/item delimitation items
178
179       handling of illegal undefined length OB/OW elements:
180
181         -oi  --illegal-obow-rej
182                reject dataset with illegal element (default)
183
184         +oi  --illegal-obow-conv
185                convert undefined length OB/OW element to SQ
186
187       handling of VOI LUT Sequence with OW VR and explicit length:
188
189         -vi  --illegal-voi-rej
190                reject dataset with illegal VOI LUT (default)
191
192         +vi  --illegal-voi-conv
193                convert illegal VOI LUT to SQ
194
195       handling of explicit length pixel data for encaps. transfer syntaxes:
196
197         -pe  --abort-expl-pixdata
198                abort on explicit length pixel data (default)
199
200         +pe  --use-expl-pixdata
201                use explicit length pixel data
202
203       general handling of parser errors:
204
205         +Ep  --ignore-parse-errors
206                try to recover from parse errors
207
208         -Ep  --handle-parse-errors
209                handle parse errors and stop parsing (default)
210
211       other parsing options:
212
213         +st  --stop-after-elem  [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
214                stop parsing after element specified by t
215
216         +sb  --stop-before-elem [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
217                stop parsing before element specified by t
218
219                # only considers elements on main dataset level and also
220                # works if the given tag is not present in the file
221
222       automatic data correction:
223
224         +dc  --enable-correction
225                enable automatic data correction (default)
226
227         -dc  --disable-correction
228                disable automatic data correction
229
230       bitstream format of deflated input:
231
232         +bd  --bitstream-deflated
233                expect deflated bitstream (default)
234
235         +bz  --bitstream-zlib
236                expect deflated zlib bitstream
237
238   processing options
239       specific character set:
240
241         +U8  --convert-to-utf8
242                convert all element values that are affected
243                by Specific Character Set (0008,0005) to UTF-8
244
245                # requires support from an underlying character encoding library
246                # (see output of --version on which one is available)
247
248   output options
249       printing:
250
251         +L   --print-all
252                print long tag values completely
253
254         -L   --print-short
255                print long tag values shortened (default)
256
257         +T   --print-tree
258                print hierarchical structure as a simple tree
259
260         -T   --print-indented
261                print hierarchical structure indented (default)
262
263         +F   --print-filename
264                print header with filename for each input file
265
266         +Fs  --print-file-search
267                print header with filename only for those input files
268                that contain one of the searched tags
269
270       mapping:
271
272         +Un  --map-uid-names
273                map well-known UID numbers to names (default)
274
275         -Un  --no-uid-names
276                do not map well-known UID numbers to names
277
278       quoting:
279
280         +Qn  --quote-nonascii
281                quote non-ASCII and control chars as XML markup
282
283         +Qo  --quote-as-octal
284                quote non-ASCII and control chars as octal numbers
285
286         -Qn  --print-nonascii
287                print non-ASCII and control chars (default)
288
289       color:
290
291         +C   --print-color
292                use ANSI escape codes for colored output
293
294                # not available on Windows systems
295
296         -C   --no-color
297                do not use any ANSI escape codes (default)
298
299                # not available on Windows systems
300
301       error handling:
302
303         -E   --stop-on-error
304                do not print if file is damaged (default)
305
306         +E   --ignore-errors
307                attempt to print even if file is damaged
308
309       searching:
310
311         +P   --search  [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
312                print the textual dump of tag t
313                this option can be specified multiple times
314                (default: the complete file is printed)
315
316         +s   --search-all
317                print all instances of searched tags (default)
318
319         -s   --search-first
320                only print first instance of searched tags
321
322         +p   --prepend
323                prepend sequence hierarchy to printed tag,
324                denoted by: (gggg,eeee).(gggg,eeee).*
325                (only when used with --search)
326
327         -p   --no-prepend
328                do not prepend hierarchy to tag (default)
329
330       writing:
331
332         +W   --write-pixel  [d]irectory: string
333                write pixel data to a .raw file stored in d
334                (little endian, filename created automatically)
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NOTES

337       Adding  directories as a parameter to the command line only makes sense
338       if option --scan-directories  is  also  given.  If  the  files  in  the
339       provided  directories  should  be selected according to a specific name
340       pattern (e.g. using wildcard matching), option --scan-pattern has to be
341       used.  Please  note  that  this  file pattern only applies to the files
342       within  the  scanned  directories,  and,  if  any  other  patterns  are
343       specified  on  the command line outside the --scan-pattern option (e.g.
344       in order to select further files), these do not apply to the  specified
345       directories.
346

LOGGING

348       The  level  of  logging  output  of  the various command line tools and
349       underlying libraries can be specified by the  user.  By  default,  only
350       errors  and  warnings  are  written to the standard error stream. Using
351       option --verbose also informational messages  like  processing  details
352       are  reported.  Option  --debug  can be used to get more details on the
353       internal activity, e.g. for debugging purposes.  Other  logging  levels
354       can  be  selected  using option --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal
355       errors are reported. In such very severe error events, the  application
356       will  usually  terminate.  For  more  details  on the different logging
357       levels, see documentation of module 'oflog'.
358
359       In case the logging output should be written to file  (optionally  with
360       logfile  rotation),  to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option
361       --log-config can be used.  This  configuration  file  also  allows  for
362       directing  only  certain messages to a particular output stream and for
363       filtering certain messages based on the  module  or  application  where
364       they  are  generated.  An  example  configuration  file  is provided in
365       <etcdir>/logger.cfg.
366

COMMAND LINE

368       All command line tools  use  the  following  notation  for  parameters:
369       square  brackets  enclose  optional  values  (0-1), three trailing dots
370       indicate that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of  both
371       means 0 to n values.
372
373       Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+'
374       or '-' sign, respectively. Usually, order and position of command  line
375       options  are  arbitrary  (i.e.  they  can appear anywhere). However, if
376       options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is  used.  This
377       behavior  conforms  to  the  standard  evaluation  rules of common Unix
378       shells.
379
380       In addition, one or more command files can be specified  using  an  '@'
381       sign  as  a  prefix to the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command
382       argument is replaced by the content  of  the  corresponding  text  file
383       (multiple  whitespaces  are  treated  as a single separator unless they
384       appear between two quotation marks) prior to  any  further  evaluation.
385       Please  note  that  a command file cannot contain another command file.
386       This simple but effective  approach  allows  one  to  summarize  common
387       combinations  of  options/parameters  and  avoids longish and confusing
388       command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
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ENVIRONMENT

391       The dcmdump utility  will  attempt  to  load  DICOM  data  dictionaries
392       specified  in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if
393       the  DCMDICTPATH  environment   variable   is   not   set,   the   file
394       <datadir>/dicom.dic  will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into
395       the application (default for Windows).
396
397       The  default  behavior  should  be  preferred   and   the   DCMDICTPATH
398       environment  variable  only used when alternative data dictionaries are
399       required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same  format  as
400       the  Unix  shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries.
401       On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The  data
402       dictionary  code  will  attempt  to  load  each  file  specified in the
403       DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data  dictionary
404       can be loaded.
405

SEE ALSO

407       dump2dcm(1), dcmconv(1)
408
410       Copyright  (C)  1994-2017  by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg,
411       Germany.
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415Version 3.6.2                   Fri Jul 14 2017                     dcmdump(1)
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