Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.0-15+deb8u1build0.14.04.1_amd64 
NAME
dcmdump - Dump DICOM file and data set
SYNOPSIS
dcmdump [options] dcmfile-in...
DESCRIPTION
The dcmdump utility dumps the contents of a DICOM file (file format or raw data set) to
stdout in textual form. Attributes with very large value fields (e.g. pixel data) can be
described as '(not loaded)'. String value fields will be delimited with square brackets
([]). Known UIDs will be displayed by their names prefixed by an equals sign (e.g.
'=MRImageStorage') unless this mapping would be explicitly switched off. Empty value
fields are described as '(no value available)'.
If dcmdump reads a raw data set (DICOM data without a file format meta-header) it will
attempt to guess the transfer syntax by examining the first few bytes of the file. It is
not always possible to correctly guess the transfer syntax and it is better to convert a
data set to a file format whenever possible (using the dcmconv utility). It is also
possible to use the -f and -t[ieb] options to force dcmdump to read a dataset with a
particular transfer syntax.
PARAMETERS
dcmfile-in DICOM input file or directory to be dumped
OPTIONS
general options
-h --help
print this help text and exit
--version
print version information and exit
--arguments
print expanded command line arguments
-q --quiet
quiet mode, print no warnings and errors
-v --verbose
verbose mode, print processing details
-d --debug
debug mode, print debug information
-ll --log-level [l]evel: string constant
(fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
use level l for the logger
-lc --log-config [f]ilename: string
use config file f for the logger
input options
input file format:
+f --read-file
read file format or data set (default)
+fo --read-file-only
read file format only
-f --read-dataset
read data set without file meta information
input transfer syntax:
-t= --read-xfer-auto
use TS recognition (default)
-td --read-xfer-detect
ignore TS specified in the file meta header
-te --read-xfer-little
read with explicit VR little endian TS
-tb --read-xfer-big
read with explicit VR big endian TS
-ti --read-xfer-implicit
read with implicit VR little endian TS
input files:
+sd --scan-directories
scan directories for input files (dcmfile-in)
+sp --scan-pattern [p]attern: string (only with --scan-directories)
pattern for filename matching (wildcards)
# possibly not available on all systems
-r --no-recurse
do not recurse within directories (default)
+r --recurse
recurse within specified directories
parsing of file meta information:
+ml --use-meta-length
use file meta information group length (default)
-ml --ignore-meta-length
ignore file meta information group length
parsing of odd-length attributes:
+ao --accept-odd-length
accept odd length attributes (default)
+ae --assume-even-length
assume real length is one byte larger
handling of non-standard VR:
+vr --treat-as-unknown
treat non-standard VR as unknown (default)
-vr --assume-implicit
try to read with implicit VR little endian TS
handling of undefined length UN elements:
+ui --enable-cp246
read undefined len UN as implicit VR (default)
-ui --disable-cp246
read undefined len UN as explicit VR
handling of defined length UN elements:
-uc --retain-un
retain elements as UN (default)
+uc --convert-un
convert to real VR if known
handling of private max-length elements (implicit VR):
-sq --maxlength-dict
read as defined in dictionary (default)
+sq --maxlength-seq
read as sequence with undefined length
automatic data correction:
+dc --enable-correction
enable automatic data correction (default)
-dc --disable-correction
disable automatic data correction
general handling of parser errors:
+Ep --ignore-parse-errors
try to recover from parse errors
-Ep --handle-parse-errors
handle parse errors and stop parsing (default)
other parsing options:
+st --stop-after-elem [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
stop parsing after element specified by t
bitstream format of deflated input:
+bd --bitstream-deflated
expect deflated bitstream (default)
+bz --bitstream-zlib
expect deflated zlib bitstream
output options
loading:
+M --load-all
load very long tag values (default)
-M --load-short
do not load very long values (e.g. pixel data)
+R --max-read-length [k]bytes: integer (4..4194302, default: 4)
set threshold for long values to k kbytes
printing:
+L --print-all
print long tag values completely
-L --print-short
print long tag values shortened (default)
+T --print-tree
print hierarchical structure as a simple tree
-T --print-indented
print hierarchical structure indented (default)
+F --print-filename
print header with filename for each input file
+Fs --print-file-search
print header with filename only for those input files
that contain one of the searched tags
+Un --map-uid-names
map well-known UID numbers to names (default)
-Un --no-uid-names
do not map well-known UID numbers to names
+Qn --quote-nonascii
quote non-ASCII and control chars as XML markup
-Qn --print-nonascii
print non-ASCII and control chars (default)
+C --print-color
use ANSI escape codes for colored output
# not available on Windows systems
error handling:
-E --stop-on-error
do not print if file is damaged (default)
+E --ignore-errors
attempt to print even if file is damaged
searching:
+P --search [t]ag: "gggg,eeee" or dictionary name
print the value of tag t this option can be specified
multiple times (default: the complete file is printed)
+s --search-all
print all instances of searched tags (default)
-s --search-first
only print first instance of searched tags
+p --prepend
prepend sequence hierarchy to printed tag,
denoted by: (gggg,eeee).(gggg,eeee).*
(only with --search-all or --search-first)
-p --no-prepend
do not prepend hierarchy to tag (default)
writing:
+W --write-pixel [d]irectory: string
write pixel data to a .raw file stored in d
(little endian, filename created automatically)
LOGGING
The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can
be specified by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard
error stream. Using option --verbose also informational messages like processing details
are reported. Option --debug can be used to get more details on the internal activity,
e.g. for debugging purposes. Other logging levels can be selected using option --log-
level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe error events,
the application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels,
see documentation of module 'oflog'.
In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with logfile rotation),
to syslog (Unix) or the event log (Windows) option --log-config can be used. This
configuration file also allows for directing only certain messages to a particular output
stream and for filtering certain messages based on the module or application where they
are generated. An example configuration file is provided in <etcdir>/logger.cfg).
COMMAND LINE
All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets enclose
optional values (0-1), three trailing dots indicate that multiple values are allowed
(1-n), a combination of both means 0 to n values.
Command line options are distinguished from parameters by a leading '+' or '-' sign,
respectively. Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they
can appear anywhere). However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost appearance
is used. This behaviour conforms to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.
In addition, one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to
the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by the content of
the corresponding text file (multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless
they appear between two quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation. Please note that
a command file cannot contain another command file. This simple but effective approach
allows to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and avoids longish and
confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).
ENVIRONMENT
The dcmdump utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in the
DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable
is not set, the file <datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built
into the application (default for Windows).
The default behaviour should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH environment variable only
used when alternative data dictionaries are required. The DCMDICTPATH environment variable
has the same format as the Unix shell PATH variable in that a colon (':') separates
entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. The data dictionary
code will attempt to load each file specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment variable. It
is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.
SEE ALSO
dump2dcm(1), dcmconv(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1994-2010 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.