NAME

       dckey - ACR/NEMA DICOM PS3 ... Extract attribute values

SYNOPSIS

       dckey  [  -ignorereaderrors  ]  [  -v|verbose  ]  [ -filename ] [ -describe ] [ -brief ] [
                 -d|decimal ] [ -key|k  elementname|(0xgggg,0xeeee) ] ...

DESCRIPTION

       dckey reads the named dicom input file and displays the values of the selected attributes.

       Binary attributes are written in hexadecimal with a  preceding  "0x"  and  numeric  string
       attributes  are  written  in  decimal  as  they are encoded, unless the -decimal option is
       specified.

OPTIONS

       The attribute values, description and verbose output go to standard error.

       The basic input switches are described in dcintro(1). Options  specific  to  this  program
       are:

       -describe
              Display the tag, name, value representation and value length of the attribute.

       -brief
              Display  the keyword of the attribute, and equals sign, and then the value, for use
              in scripts that automatically extract multiple values in the same dckey invocation.
              Implies -noerror.

       -ignorereaderrors
              Attempt to extract key values even if errors encountered whilst parsing DICOM file.

       -noerror
              Do  not  report  an  error  if the requested attribute was not found, just an empty
              value or line. Implied by -brief.

       -d|decimal
              Display the first (or only) value of a numeric attribute as a decimal value.

       -k|key  elementname|(0xgggg,0xeeee)
              Add a key to the list of attributes to be extracted.  The  attribute  may  also  be
              specified  as  a  hexadecimal  pair  of the form (0xgggg,0xeeee), which also allows
              private attributes to be fetched.

       -filename
              Show the name of the file supplied in the arguments; a hyphen will be  reported  if
              no filename was supplied.

ENVIRONMENT

EXAMPLES

       % dckey -key Rows -key Columns -key ImageLocation
               -describe test.dc3
       (0x0028,0x0010) US Rows    VR=<US> VL=<0x0002> [0x0100]
       (0x0028,0x0011) US Columns VR=<US> VL=<0x0002> [0x0100]
       Error - Not found - (0x0028,0x0200) US Image Location

       % dckey -k Rows -k ImagePositionPatient
             -k StudyDate -k StudyTime
             -k SOPClassUID test.dc3
       1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.2
       1996.04.17
       19:38:00
       45.000000\-120.000000\120.000000
       0x0200
       % dckey -d -k Rows test.dc3
       512
       % dckey -brief -k Rows -k Columns test.dc3
       Rows=0x200
       Columns=0x200

FILES

SEE ALSO

       dcintro(1),dctable(1)

AUTHOR

       Copyright (C) 1993-2010. David A. Clunie DBA PixelMed Publishing. All rights reserved.

BUGS

       Attempts to extract sequences or OB,OW attributes may fail nastily.

       The  order in which the attributes are extracted and written is not the same order as they
       are specified on the command line, and should not be depended on.

       The -describe and other options cannot be used at the same time.

       The -decimal option uses a double conversion before displaying the value and there may  be
       sign extension and precision issues with some values.

       The  reading  of  the  attributes  from the DICOM file will not proceed past the top level
       Pixel Data attribute, in order to accelerate the speed of reading.