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-meta-info


         read meta information if present (default)


  -f   --ignore-meta-info


         ignore file meta information
file contents byte ordering:


  +rl  --read-file-little


         read OW data with little endian (default)


  +rb  --read-file-big


         read OW data from file with big endian
other input options:


  +l   --line  [m]ax-length: integer


         maximum line length m (default: 4096)

processing options¶

unique identifiers:


  +Ug  --generate-new-uids


         generate new Study/Series/SOP Instance UID


  -Uo  --dont-overwrite-uids


         do not overwrite existing UIDs (default)


  +Uo  --overwrite-uids


         overwrite existing UIDs

output options¶

output file format:


  +F   --write-file


         write file format (default)


  -F   --write-dataset


         write data set without file meta information


  +Fu  --update-meta-info


         update particular file meta information
output transfer syntax:


  +t=  --write-xfer-same


         write with same TS as input (default)


  +te  --write-xfer-little


         write with explicit VR little endian


  +tb  --write-xfer-big


         write with explicit VR big endian TS


  +ti  --write-xfer-implicit


         write with implicit VR little endian TS


  +td  --write-xfer-deflated


         write with deflated explicit VR little endian TS
error handling:


  -E   --stop-on-error


         do not write if dump is damaged (default)


  +E   --ignore-errors


         attempt to write even if dump is damaged
post-1993 value representations:


  +u   --enable-new-vr


         enable support for new VRs (UN/UT) (default)


  -u   --disable-new-vr


         disable support for new VRs, convert to OB
group length encoding:


  +g=  --group-length-recalc


         recalculate group lengths if present (default)


  +g   --group-length-create


         always write with group length elements


  -g   --group-length-remove


         always write without group length elements
length encoding in sequences and items:


  +e   --length-explicit


         write with explicit lengths (default)


  -e   --length-undefined


         write with undefined lengths
data set trailing padding (not with --write-dataset):


  -p=  --padding-retain


         do not change padding (default if not --write-dataset)


  -p   --padding-off


         no padding (implicit if --write-dataset)


  +p   --padding-create  [f]ile-pad [i]tem-pad: integer


         align file on multiple of f bytes


         and items on multiple of i bytes
deflate compression level (only with --write-xfer-deflated):


  +cl  --compression-level  [l]evel: integer (default: 6)


         0=uncompressed, 1=fastest, 9=best compression

Dump File Description¶

The input file can be an output of dcmdump (default indented format only). One element (tag, VR, value) must be written into one line separated by arbitrary spaces or tab characters. A '#' begins a comment that ends at the line end. Empty lines are allowed.

The individual parts of a line have the following syntax:

Tag:   (gggg,eeee)


       with gggg and eeee are 4 character hexadecimal values


       representing group and element tag.  Spaces and tabs can be


       anywhere in a tag specification.
VR:    Value Representation must be written as 2 characters as in


       Part 6 of the DICOM standard.  No spaces or tabs are allowed


       between the two characters.  If the VR can be determined from


       the tag, this part of a line is optional.
Value: There are several rules for writing values:


       1. US, SS, UL, SL, UV, SV, FD, FL, OD, OF, OL and OV are written


          as decimal strings that can be read by scanf().


       2. AT is written as '(gggg,eeee)' with additional spaces


          stripped off automatically and gggg and eeee being decimal


          strings that can be read by scanf().


       3. OB and OW values are written as byte or word hexadecimal


          values separated by '\' character.  Alternatively, OB or OW


          values can be read from a separate file by writing the


          filename prefixed by a '=' character (e.g. '=largepix.dat').


          The contents of the file will be read as is.  By default, OW


          data is expected to be little endian ordered and will be


          swapped if necessary.  No checks will be made to ensure that


          the amount of data is reasonable in terms of other attributes


          such as Rows or Columns.


          In case of compressed pixel data, the line should start with


          '(7fe0,0010) OB (PixelSequence' in order to distinguish from


          uncompressed pixel data.


       4. UI is written as '=Name' in data dictionary or as unique


          identifier string (see 6.), e.g. '[1.2.840.....]'.


       5. Strings without () <> [] spaces, tabs and # can be written


          directly.


       6. Other strings must be surrounded by '[' and ']'.  No bracket


          structure is passed.  The value ends at the last ']' in the


          line.  Anything after the ']' is interpreted as comment.


       7. '(' and '<' are interpreted special and may not be used when


          writing an input file by hand as beginning characters of a


          string.  Multiple Value are separated by '\'.  The lines


          need not be sorted into ascending tag order.  References in


          DICOM Directories are not supported.  Semantic errors are


          not detected.

Examples¶

The following lines show valid examples of the syntax described above:

 (0008,0020) DA [19921012]            #  8, 1 StudyDate


 (0008,0016) UI =MRImageStorage       # 26, 1 SOPClassUID


 (0002,0012) UI [1.2.276.0.7230010.100.1.1]


 (0020,0032) DS [0.0\0.0]             #  8, 2 ImagePositionPatient


 (0028,0009) AT (3004,000c)           #  4, 1 FrameIncrementPointer


 (0028,0010) US 256                   #  4, 1 Rows


 (0002,0001) OB 01\00

Limitations¶

Please note that dump2dcm currently does not fully support DICOMDIR files. Specifically, the value of the various offset data elements is not updated automatically by this tool.