1dcmdump(1) OFFIS DCMTK dcmdump(1)
2
6 dcmdump - Dump DICOM file and data set
7
9 dcmdump [options] dcmfile-in...
10
12 The dcmdump utility dumps the contents of a DICOM file (file format or
13 raw data set) to stdout in textual form. Attributes with very large
14 value fields (e.g. pixel data) can be described as '(not loaded)'.
15 String value fields will be delimited with square brackets ([]). Known
16 UIDs will be displayed by their names prefixed by an equals sign (e.g.
17 '=MRImageStorage') unless this mapping would be explicitly switched
18 off. Empty value fields are described as '(no value available)'.
19 If dcmdump reads a raw data set (DICOM data without a file format meta-
21 header) it will attempt to guess the transfer syntax by examining the
22 first few bytes of the file. It is not always possible to correctly
23 guess the transfer syntax and it is better to convert a data set to a
24 file format whenever possible (using the dcmconv utility). It is also
25 possible to use the -f and -t[ieb] options to force dcmdump to read a
26 dataset with a particular transfer syntax.
27
29 dcmfile-in DICOM input file or directory to be dumped
30
32 general options
33 -h --help
34 print this help text and exit
35 --version
37 print version information and exit
38 --arguments
40 print expanded command line arguments
41 -q --quiet
43 quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
44 -v --verbose
46 verbose mode, print processing details
47 -d --debug
49 debug mode, print debug information
50 -ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
52 (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
53 use level l for the logger
54 -lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
56 use config file f for the logger
57 input options
59 input file format:
60 +f --read-file
62 read file format or data set (default)
63 +fo --read-file-only
65 read file format only
66 -f --read-dataset
68 read data set without file meta information
69 input transfer syntax:
71 -t= --read-xfer-auto
73 use TS recognition (default)
74 -td --read-xfer-detect
76 ignore TS specified in the file meta header
77 -te --read-xfer-little
79 read with explicit VR little endian TS
80 -tb --read-xfer-big
82 read with explicit VR big endian TS
83 -ti --read-xfer-implicit
85 read with implicit VR little endian TS
86 input files:
88 +sd --scan-directories
90 scan directories for input files (dcmfile-in)
91 +sp --scan-pattern [p]attern: string (only with --scan-directories)
93 pattern for filename matching (wildcards)
94 # possibly not available on all systems
96 -r --no-recurse
98 do not recurse within directories (default)
99 +r --recurse
101 recurse within specified directories
102 parsing of file meta information:
104 +ml --use-meta-length
106 use file meta information group length (default)
107 -ml --ignore-meta-length
109 ignore file meta information group length
110 parsing of odd-length attributes:
112 +ao --accept-odd-length
114 accept odd length attributes (default)
115 +ae --assume-even-length
117 assume real length is one byte larger
118 handling of non-standard VR:
120 +vr --treat-as-unknown
122 treat non-standard VR as unknown (default)
123 -vr --assume-implicit
125 try to read with implicit VR little endian TS
126 handling of undefined length UN elements:
128 +ui --enable-cp246
130 read undefined len UN as implicit VR (default)
131 -ui --disable-cp246
133 read undefined len UN as explicit VR
134 handling of defined length UN elements:
136 -uc --retain-un
138 retain elements as UN (default)
139 +uc --convert-un
141 convert to real VR if known
142 handling of private max-length elements (implicit VR):
144 -sq --maxlength-dict
146 read as defined in dictionary (default)
147 +sq --maxlength-seq
149 read as sequence with undefined length
150 automatic data correction:
152 +dc --enable-correction
154 enable automatic data correction (default)
155 -dc --disable-correction
157 disable automatic data correction
158 general handling of parser errors:
160 +Ep --ignore-parse-errors
162 try to recover from parse errors
163 -Ep --handle-parse-errors
165 handle parse errors and stop parsing (default)
166 other parsing options:
168 +st --stop-after-elem [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
170 stop parsing after element specified by t
171 bitstream format of deflated input:
173 +bd --bitstream-deflated
175 expect deflated bitstream (default)
176 +bz --bitstream-zlib
178 expect deflated zlib bitstream
179 output options
181 loading:
182 +M --load-all
184 load very long tag values (default)
185 -M --load-short
187 do not load very long values (e.g. pixel data)
188 +R --max-read-length [k]bytes: integer (4..4194302, default: 4)
190 set threshold for long values to k kbytes
191 printing:
193 +L --print-all
195 print long tag values completely
196 -L --print-short
198 print long tag values shortened (default)
199 +T --print-tree
201 print hierarchical structure as a simple tree
202 -T --print-indented
204 print hierarchical structure indented (default)
205 +F --print-filename
207 print header with filename for each input file
208 +Fs --print-file-search
210 print header with filename only for those input files
211 that contain one of the searched tags
212 +Un --map-uid-names
214 map well-known UID numbers to names (default)
215 -Un --no-uid-names
217 do not map well-known UID numbers to names
218 +Qn --quote-nonascii
220 quote non-ASCII and control chars as XML markup
221 -Qn --print-nonascii
223 print non-ASCII and control chars (default)
224 +C --print-color
226 use ANSI escape codes for colored output
227 # not available on Windows systems
229 error handling:
231 -E --stop-on-error
233 do not print if file is damaged (default)
234 +E --ignore-errors
236 attempt to print even if file is damaged
237 searching:
239 +P --search [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
241 print the value of tag t this option can be specified
242 multiple times (default: the complete file is printed)
243 +s --search-all
245 print all instances of searched tags (default)
246 -s --search-first
248 only print first instance of searched tags
249 +p --prepend
251 prepend sequence hierarchy to printed tag,
252 denoted by: (gggg,eeee).(gggg,eeee).*
253 (only with --search-all or --search-first)
254 -p --no-prepend
256 do not prepend hierarchy to tag (default)
257 writing:
259 +W --write-pixel [d]irectory: string
261 write pixel data to a .raw file stored in d
262 (little endian, filename created automatically)
263
265 The level of logging output of the various command line tools and
266 underlying libraries can be specified by the user. By default, only
267 errors and warnings are written to the standard error stream. Using
268 option --verbose also informational messages like processing details
269 are reported. Option --debug can be used to get more details on the
270 internal activity, e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels
271 can be selected using option --log-level. In --quiet mode only fatal
272 errors are reported. In such very severe error events, the application
273 will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging
274 levels, see documentation of module 'oflog'.
275 In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with
277 logfile rotation), to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option
278 --log-config can be used. This configuration file also allows for
279 directing only certain messages to a particular output stream and for
280 filtering certain messages based on the module or application where
281 they are generated. An example configuration file is provided in
282 <etcdir>/logger.cfg).
283
285 All command line tools use the following notation for parameters:
286 square brackets enclose optional values (0-1), three trailing dots
287 indicate that multiple values are allowed (1-n), a combination of both
288 means 0 to n values.
289 Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+'
291 or '-' sign, respectively. Usually, order and position of command line
292 options are arbitrary (i.e. they can appear anywhere). However, if
293 options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance is used. This
294 behaviour conforms to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix
295 shells.
296 In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@'
298 sign as a prefix to the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command
299 argument is replaced by the content of the corresponding text file
300 (multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless they
301 appear between two quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation.
302 Please note that a command file cannot contain another command file.
303 This simple but effective approach allows to summarize common
304 combinations of options/parameters and avoids longish and confusing
305 command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
306
308 The dcmdump utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries
309 specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if
310 the DCMDICTPATH environment variable is not set, the file
311 <datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built into
312 the application (default for Windows).
313 The default behaviour should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH
315 environment variable only used when alternative data dictionaries are
316 required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as
317 the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates entries.
318 On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The data
319 dictionary code will attempt to load each file specified in the
320 DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It is an error if no data dictionary
321 can be loaded.
322
324 dump2dcm(1), dcmconv(1)
325
327 Copyright (C) 1994-2010 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg,
328 Germany.
329Version 3.6.0 6 Jan 2011 dcmdump(1)