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dcm2json(1)			  OFFIS	DCMTK			   dcm2json(1)

NAME
       dcm2json	- Convert DICOM	file and data set to JSON

SYNOPSIS
       dcm2json	[options] dcmfile-in [jsonfile-out]

DESCRIPTION
       The dcm2json utility converts the contents of a DICOM file (file	format
       or  raw	data  set)  to	JSON  (JavaScript Object Notation). The	output
       refers to the 'DICOM JSON Model', which	is  found  in  DICOM  Part  18
       Section F.

       If  dcm2json  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 dcm2json to read  a
       data set	with a particular transfer syntax.

PARAMETERS
       dcmfile-in   DICOM input	filename to be converted ("-" for stdin)

       jsonfile-out JSON output	filename (default: stdout)

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

   processing options
       encoding	of infinity and	not-a-number:

	 -es  --encode-strict
		report error for 'inf' and 'nan' (default)

	 -ee  --encode-extended
		permit 'inf' and 'nan' in JSON numbers

       encoding	of IS and DS (integer/decimal string) elements:

	 -ia  --is-ds-auto
		encode as number if valid, as string otherwise (default)

	 -in  --is-ds-num
		always encode as number, fail if invalid

	 -is  --is-ds-string
		always encode as string

   output options
       output format:

	 +fc  --formatted-code
		enable whitespace formatting (default)

		# prints additional spaces and newlines	for increased
		# readability

	 -fc  --compact-code
		print only required characters

	 +m   --write-meta
		write data set with meta information
		(warning: not conforming to the	DICOM standard)

JSON Format
       The  basic structure of the JSON	output created from a DICOM file looks
       like the	following (see DICOM Part 18 Section F for details):

       {
	   "00080005": {
	       "vr": "CS",
	       "Value":	[
		   "ISO_IR 192"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080020": {
	       "vr": "DT",
	       "Value":	[
		   "20130409"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080030": {
	       "vr": "TM",
	       "Value":	[
		   "131600.0000"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080050": {
	       "vr": "SH",
	       "Value":	[
		   "11235813"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080056": {
	       "vr": "CS",
	       "Value":	[
		   "ONLINE"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080061": {
	       "vr": "CS",
	       "Value":	[
		   "CT",
		   "PET"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00080090": {
	       "vr": "PN",
	       "Value":	[
		 {
		   "Alphabetic": "^Bob^^Dr."
		 }
	       ]
	   },
	   "00081190": {
	       "vr": "UR",
	       "Value":	[
		   "http://wado.nema.org/studies/
		   1.2.392.200036.9116.2.2.2.1762893313.1029997326.945873"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00090010": {
	       "vr": "LO",
	       "Value":	[
		   "Vendor A"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00091002": {
	       "vr": "UN",
	       "InlineBinary": "z0x9c8v7"
	   },
	   "00100010": {
	       "vr": "PN",
	       "Value":	[
		 {
		   "Alphabetic": "Wang^XiaoDong"
		 }
	       ]
	   },
	   "00100020": {
	       "vr": "LO",
	       "Value":	[
		   "12345"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00100021": {
	       "vr": "LO",
	       "Value":	[
		   "Hospital A"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00100030": {
	       "vr": "DA",
	       "Value":	[
		   "19670701"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00100040": {
	       "vr": "CS",
	       "Value":	[
		   "M"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00101002": {
	       "vr": "SQ",
	       "Value":	[
		   {
		       "00100020": {
			   "vr": "LO",
			   "Value": [
			       "54321"
			   ]
		       },
		       "00100021": {
			   "vr": "LO",
			   "Value": [
			       "Hospital B"
			   ]
		       }
		   },
		   {
		       "00100020": {
			   "vr": "LO",
			   "Value": [
			       "24680"
			   ]
		       },
		       "00100021": {
			   "vr": "LO",
			   "Value": [
			       "Hospital C"
			   ]
		       }
		   }
	       ]
	   },
	   "0020000D": {
	       "vr": "UI",
	       "Value":	[
		   "1.2.392.200036.9116.2.2.2.1762893313.1029997326.945873"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00200010": {
	       "vr": "SH",
	       "Value":	[
		   "11235813"
	       ]
	   },
	   "00201206": {
	       "vr": "IS",
	       "Value":	[
		   4
	       ]
	   },
	   "00201208": {
	       "vr": "IS",
	       "Value":	[
		   942
	       ]
	   }
       }

   Bulk	Data
       Binary data, i.e. DICOM element values with Value Representations  (VR)
       of OB or	OW, as well as OD, OF, OL, OV and UN values are	always written
       as  'InlineBinary'  (base64  encoding)  to  the	JSON  output. A	future
       version of this tool might optionally use a 'BulkDataURI' instead, i.e.
       the WADO-RS URL of a bulk data item that	contains  the  element	value.
       This  would  be	particularly useful for	large amounts of data, such as
       pixel data.

NOTES
   Numbers as Strings
       The DICOM standard allows certain numeric DICOM value  representations,
       DS,  IS,	 SV  and UV, to	be converted either to a JSON number or	a JSON
       string. dcm2json	converts DS and	IS values to JSON numbers if they  are
       valid  decimal  strings	or  integer  strings,  and  to strings if they
       contain any illegal character. dcm2json converts	SV and	UV  values  to
       numbers	if they	are not	larger than 9007199254740991ll or smaller than
       -9007199254740991ll,  and  to  strings  otherwise.   While   the	  JSON
       specification  permits  larger  numbers,	these are the largest integers
       that JavaScript can handle. Therefore, many JSON	parsers	cannot process
       larger numbers.

   Character Encoding
       As required by the DICOM	JSON encoding, dcm2json	always creates	output
       in  Unicode  UTF-8 encoding and converts	DICOM datasets accordingly. If
       this is not possible, for  example  because  DCMTK  has	been  compiled
       without character set conversion	support, an error is returned.

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
       behavior	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  one to summarize	common
       combinations of options/parameters and  avoids  longish	and  confusing
       command lines (an example is provided in	file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).

EXIT CODES
       The  dcm2json  utility  uses the	following exit codes when terminating.
       This enables the	user to	check  for  the	 reason	 why  the  application
       terminated.

   general
       EXITCODE_NO_ERROR			 0
       EXITCODE_COMMANDLINE_SYNTAX_ERROR	 1

   input file errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_READ_INPUT_FILE		20
       EXITCODE_NO_INPUT_FILES			21

   output file errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_OUTPUT_FILE	40

   processing errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_CONVERT_TO_UNICODE	80
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_VALID_JSON		81

ENVIRONMENT
       The  dcm2json  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   behavior	  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.

       The dcm2json utility will attempt to load character set mapping tables.
       This happens when DCMTK was compiled with the oficonv library (which is
       the default) and	the mapping tables are	not  built  into  the  library
       (default	when DCMTK uses	shared libraries).

       The  mapping  table  files  are	expected  in  DCMTK's  <datadir>.  The
       DCMICONVPATH environment	variable can be	used to	 specify  a  different
       location.  If  a	 different location is specified, those	mapping	tables
       also replace any	built-in tables.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2016-2024 by OFFIS	e.V., Escherweg	 2,  26121  Oldenburg,
       Germany.

Version	3.6.9			Wed Dec	11 2024			   dcm2json(1)

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