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NAME

       dump2dcm - Convert ASCII dump to DICOM file

SYNOPSIS

       dump2dcm [options] dumpfile-in dcmfile-out

DESCRIPTION

       The  dump2dcm  utility  converts an ASCII dumpfile to a dicom file. The
       dumpfile has the same format as the  output  of  dcmdump.  Thus  it  is
       possible  to  capture  the  output  of dcmdump into a file, modify some
       attributes and create a new dicom file. However, dump2dcm is not really
       suitable for generating dicom files containing pixel data.

PARAMETERS

       dumpfile-in  dump input filename

       dcmfile-out  DICOM output filename

OPTIONS

   general options
         -h   --help
                print this help text and exit

              --version
                print version information and exit

         -v   --verbose
                verbose mode, print processing details

         -d   --debug
                debug mode, print debug information

   input options
         +l   --line  [m]ax-length: integer
                maximum line length m (default 4096)

   output options
       output file format:

         +F   --write-file
                write file format (default)

         -F   --write-dataset
                write data set without file meta information

       output transfer syntax:

         +te  --write-xfer-little
                write with explicit VR little endian (default)

         +tb  --write-xfer-big
                write with explicit VR big endian TS

         +ti  --write-xfer-implicit
                write with implicit 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

NOTES

   Dump File Description
       The  input  file  can  be  an  output of dcmdump. 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 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, SL, UL, FD, FL 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, 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.  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.
              4. UI is written as ’=Name’ in data dictionary or as unique
                 identifer string (see 6.), e.g. ’[1.2.840.....]’.
              5. Strings without () <> [] spaces, tabs and # can be written
                 directly.
              6. Other strings with must be surrounded by [ ].  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.

   Example
        (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

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) 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
       share/data/dumppat.txt).

ENVIRONMENT

       The dump2dcm 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
       <PREFIX>/lib/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.
       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

       dcmdump(1)

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1996-2004 by Kuratorium OFFIS e.V.,  Escherweg  2,  26121
       Oldenburg, Germany.