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.