1scanimage(1)             SANE Scanner Access Now Easy             scanimage(1)
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NAME

6       scanimage - scan an image
7

SYNOPSIS

9       scanimage  [-d|--device-name  dev]  [--format format] [-i|--icc-profile
10       profile]   [-L|--list-devices]   [-f|--formatted-device-list    format]
11       [-b|--batch  [=format]]  [--batch-start  start]  [--batch-count  count]
12       [--batch-increment  increment]   [--batch-double]   [--accept-md5-only]
13       [-p|--progress]    [-o|--output-file]    [-n|--dont-scan]   [-T|--test]
14       [-A|--all-options]   [-h|--help]    [-v|--verbose]    [-B|--buffer-size
15       [=size]] [-V|--version] [device-specific-options]
16

DESCRIPTION

18       scanimage  is  a  command-line  interface  to control image acquisition
19       devices such as flatbed scanners or cameras.  The device is  controlled
20       via  command-line  options.   After  command-line processing, scanimage
21       normally proceeds to acquire an image.  The image data  is  written  to
22       standard  output  in  one of the PNM (portable aNyMaP) formats (PBM for
23       black-and-white images, PGM for grayscale images,  and  PPM  for  color
24       images), TIFF format (black-and-white, grayscale or color), PNG format,
25       or JPEG format (compression level 75).  scanimage accesses image acqui‐
26       sition devices through the SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) interface and
27       can thus support any device for which there exists a SANE backend  (try
28       apropos sane- to get a list of available backends).
29
30

EXAMPLES

32       To get a list of devices:
33
34         scanimage -L
35
36       To scan with default settings to the file image.pnm:
37
38         scanimage >image.pnm
39
40       To  scan 100x100 mm to the file image.tiff (-x and -y may not be avail‐
41       able with all devices):
42
43         scanimage -x 100 -y 100 --format=tiff >image.tiff
44
45       To print all available options:
46
47         scanimage -h
48
49

OPTIONS

51       Parameters are separated by a blank from single-character options (e.g.
52       -d   epson)   and   by   a   "="  from  multi-character  options  (e.g.
53       --device-name=epson).
54
55
56       The -d or --device-name options must be followed by a SANE  device-name
57       like  `epson:/dev/sg0'  or  `hp:/dev/usbscanner0'.  A (partial) list of
58       available devices can be obtained with the --list-devices  option  (see
59       below).   If  no device-name is specified explicitly, scanimage reads a
60       device-name from the environment variable SANE_DEFAULT_DEVICE.  If this
61       variable is not set, scanimage will attempt to open the first available
62       device.
63
64       The --format format option selects how image data is written  to  stan‐
65       dard  output or the file specified by the --output-file option.  format
66       can be pnm, tiff, png, or jpeg.  If --format is not specified,  PNM  is
67       written by default.
68
69       The -i or --icc-profile option is used to include an ICC profile into a
70       TIFF file.
71
72       The -L or --list-devices option requests a (partial)  list  of  devices
73       that are available.  The list is not complete since some devices may be
74       available, but are not listed in any of the configuration files  (which
75       are  typically  stored in directory /etc/sane.d).  This is particularly
76       the case when accessing scanners through the network.  If a  device  is
77       not listed in a configuration file, the only way to access it is by its
78       full device name.  You may need to consult your system administrator to
79       find out the names of such devices.
80
81       The   -f   or   --formatted-device-list   option   works   similar   to
82       --list-devices, but requires a format string.  scanimage  replaces  the
83       placeholders %d %v %m %t %i %n with the device name, vendor name, model
84       name, scanner type, an index number and newline respectively. The  com‐
85       mand
86
87              scanimage  -f  scanner number %i device %d is a %t, model %m,
88              produced by %v 
89
90       will produce something like:
91
92              scanner number 0  device sharp:/dev/sg1 is  a  flatbed  scanner,
93              model JX250 SCSI, produced by SHARP
94
95       The  --batch* options provide the features for scanning documents using
96       document feeders.  --batch [format] is used to specify  the  format  of
97       the  filename  that each page will be written to.  Each page is written
98       out to a single file.  If format  is  not  specified,  the  default  of
99       out%d.pnm  (or  out%d.tif for --format tiff, out%d.png for --format png
100       or out%d.jpg for --format jpeg) will be used.  This option is incompat‐
101       ible  with the --output-path option.  format is given as a printf style
102       string with one integer parameter.   --batch-start  start  selects  the
103       page  number  to  start naming files with. If this option is not given,
104       the counter will start at 1.  --batch-count count specifies the  number
105       of  pages  to  attempt  to scan.  If not given, scanimage will continue
106       scanning until the scanner returns a state  other  than  OK.   Not  all
107       scanners  with  document feeders signal when the ADF is empty, use this
108       command to work around them.  With --batch-increment increment you  can
109       change  the  amount  that the number in the filename is incremented by.
110       Generally this is used when you are scanning double-sided documents  on
111       a  single-sided document feeder.  A specific command is provided to aid
112       this:  --batch-double  will  automatically  set  the  increment  to  2.
113       --batch-prompt  will  ask  for  pressing RETURN before scanning a page.
114       This can be used for scanning multiple pages without an automatic docu‐
115       ment feeder.
116
117       The  --accept-md5-only  option only accepts user authorization requests
118       that support MD5 security. The SANE network daemon (saned)  is  capable
119       of doing such requests. See saned(8).
120
121       The  -p  or --progress option requests that scanimage prints a progress
122       counter. It shows how much image data of the current image has  already
123       been received by scanimage (in percent).
124
125       The  -o or --output-file option requests that scanimage saves the scan‐
126       ning output to the given path. This option  is  incompatible  with  the
127       --batch  option.  The  program will try to guess --format from the file
128       name. If that is not possible, it will print an error message and exit.
129
130       The -n or --dont-scan option requests  that  scanimage  only  sets  the
131       options  provided by the user but doesn't actually perform a scan. This
132       option can be used to e.g. turn off the scanner's lamp (if supported by
133       the backend).
134
135       The  -T  or --test option requests that scanimage performs a few simple
136       sanity tests to make sure the backend works as defined by the SANE  API
137       (in particular the sane_read() function is exercised by this test).
138
139       The -A or --all-options option requests that scanimage lists all avail‐
140       able options exposed the backend, including button options.  The infor‐
141       mation is printed on standard output and no scan will be done.
142
143       The  -h or --help options request help information.  The information is
144       printed on standard output and in this case, no attempt will be made to
145       acquire an image.
146
147       The  -v or --verbose options increase the verbosity of the operation of
148       scanimage.  The option may be specified repeatedly, each time  increas‐
149       ing the verbosity level.
150
151       The  -B  option without argument changes the input buffer size from the
152       default 32KB to 1MB.  For finer  grained  control,  use  --buffer-size=
153       followed by the number of KB.
154
155       The  -V  or --version option requests that scanimage prints the program
156       and package name, the version number of the SANE distribution  that  it
157       came  with and the version of the backend that it loads. Usually that's
158       the dll backend. If more information about the version numbers  of  the
159       backends  are  necessary, the DEBUG variable for the dll backend can be
160       used. Example: SANE_DEBUG_DLL=3 scanimage -L .
161
162       As you might imagine, much of the power of  scanimage  comes  from  the
163       fact that it can control any SANE backend.  Thus, the exact set of com‐
164       mand-line options depends on the capabilities of the  selected  device.
165       To  see the options for a device named dev, invoke scanimage via a com‐
166       mand-line of the form:
167
168              scanimage --help --device-name dev
169
170       The documentation for the device-specific options printed by --help  is
171       best explained with a few examples:
172
173       -l 0..218mm [0]
174           Top-left x position of scan area.
175
176              The  description  above  shows  that option -l expects an option
177              value in the range from 0 to 218 mm.  The value in square brack‐
178              ets  indicates that the current option value is 0 mm. Most back‐
179              ends provide similar geometry options for  top-left  y  position
180              (-t), width (-x) and height of scan-area (-y).
181
182
183       --brightness -100..100% [0]
184           Controls the brightness of the acquired image.
185
186              The  description above shows that option --brightness expects an
187              option value in the range from -100 to 100 percent.   The  value
188              in  square brackets indicates that the current option value is 0
189              percent.
190
191       --default-enhancements
192           Set default values for enhancement controls.
193
194              The description above shows that  option  --default-enhancements
195              has no option value.  It should be thought of as having an imme‐
196              diate effect at the  point  of  the  command-line  at  which  it
197              appears.  For example, since this option resets the --brightness
198              option, the option-pair --brightness  50  --default-enhancements
199              would effectively be a no-op.
200
201       --mode Lineart|Gray|Color [Gray]
202           Selects the scan mode (e.g., lineart or color).
203
204              The  description above shows that option --mode accepts an argu‐
205              ment that must be one of the strings Lineart,  Gray,  or  Color.
206              The  value  in  the  square bracket indicates that the option is
207              currently set to Gray.  For convenience, it is legal to abbrevi‐
208              ate  the string values as long as they remain unique.  Also, the
209              case of the spelling doesn't matter.  For example,  option  set‐
210              ting --mode col is identical to --mode Color.
211
212       --custom-gamma[=(yes|no)] [inactive]
213           Determines  whether  a  builtin  or  a custom gamma-table should be
214       used.
215
216              The description above shows that option  --custom-gamma  expects
217              either no option value, a "yes" string, or a "no" string.  Spec‐
218              ifying the option with no  value  is  equivalent  to  specifying
219              "yes".   The  value in square-brackets indicates that the option
220              is not currently active.  That is, attempting to set the  option
221              would  result in an error message.  The set of available options
222              typically depends on the settings of other options.   For  exam‐
223              ple,  the  --custom-gamma  table  might  be  active  only when a
224              grayscale or color scan-mode has been requested.
225
226              Note that the --help option is processed only  after  all  other
227              options  have been processed.  This makes it possible to see the
228              option settings for a particular mode by specifying  the  appro‐
229              priate  mode-options along with the --help option.  For example,
230              the command-line:
231
232              scanimage --help --mode color
233
234              would print the option settings that  are  in  effect  when  the
235              color-mode is selected.
236
237       --gamma-table 0..255,...
238           Gamma-correction table.  In color mode this option
239           equally affects the red, green, and blue channels
240           simultaneously (i.e., it is an intensity gamma table).
241
242              The  description  above  shows that option --gamma-table expects
243              zero or more values in the range 0 to 255.  For example, a legal
244              value  for this option would be "3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12".  Since
245              it's cumbersome to specify long vectors in this form,  the  same
246              can  be  expressed  by  the abbreviated form "[0]3-[9]12".  What
247              this means is that the first vector element is  set  to  3,  the
248              9-th element is set to 12 and the values in between are interpo‐
249              lated linearly.  Of course, it is possible to  specify  multiple
250              such  linear segments.  For example, "[0]3-[2]3-[6]7,[7]10-[9]6"
251              is   equivalent   to   "3,3,3,4,5,6,7,10,8,6".    The    program
252              gamma4scanimage  can  be used to generate such gamma tables (see
253              gamma4scanimage(1) for details).
254
255       --filename <string> [/tmp/input.ppm]
256           The filename of the image to be loaded.
257
258              The description above is an example of an option that  takes  an
259              arbitrary string value (which happens to be a filename).  Again,
260              the value in brackets show that the option is current set to the
261              filename /tmp/input.ppm.
262
263

ENVIRONMENT

265       SANE_DEFAULT_DEVICE
266              The default device-name.
267

FILES

269       /etc/sane.d
270              This  directory holds various configuration files.  For details,
271              please refer to the manual pages listed below.
272
273       ~/.sane/pass
274              This file contains lines of the form
275
276              user:password:resource
277
278              scanimage uses this information  to  answer  user  authorization
279              requests  automatically.  The file must have 0600 permissions or
280              stricter. You should use  this  file  in  conjunction  with  the
281              --accept-md5-only  option  to  avoid  server-side  attacks.  The
282              resource may contain any character but is limited to 127 charac‐
283              ters.
284
285

SEE ALSO

287       sane(7),    gamma4scanimage(1),   xscanimage(1),   xcam(1),   xsane(1),
288       scanadf(1), sane-dll(5), sane-net(5), sane-"backendname"(5)
289
290

AUTHOR

292       David Mosberger, Andreas Beck, Gordon Matzigkeit, Caskey  Dickson,  and
293       many  others.   For questions and comments contact the sane-devel mail‐
294       inglist (see http://www.sane-project.org/mailing-lists.html).
295
296

BUGS

298       For vector options, the help output currently has no indication  as  to
299       how many elements a vector-value should have.
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303                                  10 Jul 2008                     scanimage(1)
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