pdf2dcm

Section: OFFIS DCMTK (1)
Updated: Thu Nov 29 2018
Page Index
 

NAME

pdf2dcm - Encapsulate PDF file into DICOM file format

 

SYNOPSIS

pdf2dcm [options] pdffile-in dcmfile-out

 

DESCRIPTION

The pdf2dcm utility reads a PDF file (pdffile-in), converts it to a DICOM Encapsulated PDF Storage SOP instance and stores the converted data to an output file (dcmfile-out).  

PARAMETERS

pdffile-in   PDF input filename to be encapsulated

dcmfile-out  DICOM output filename

 

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

 

DICOM document options

document title:

  +t   --title  [t]itle: string (default: empty)
         document title

  +cn  --concept-name  [CSD] [CV] [CM]: string (default: empty)
         coded representation of document title defined by coding
         scheme designator CSD, code value CV and code meaning CM

patient data:

  +pn  --patient-name  [n]ame: string
         patient's name in DICOM PN syntax

  +pi  --patient-id  [i]d: string
         patient identifier

  +pb  --patient-birthdate  [d]ate: string (YYYYMMDD)
         patient's birth date

  +ps  --patient-sex  [s]ex: string (M, F or O)
         patient's sex

study and series:

  +sg  --generate
         generate new study and series UIDs (default)

  +st  --study-from  [f]ilename: string
         read patient/study data from DICOM file

  +se  --series-from  [f]ilename: string
         read patient/study/series data from DICOM file

instance number:

  +i1  --instance-one
         use instance number 1 (default, not with +se)

  +ii  --instance-inc
         increment instance number (only with +se)

  +is  --instance-set [i]nstance number: integer
         use instance number i

burned-in annotation:

  +an  --annotation-yes
         document contains patient identifying data (default)

  -an  --annotation-no
         document does not contain patient identifying data

 

processing options

other processing options:

  -k   --key  [k]ey: gggg,eeee="str", path or dictionary name="str"
         add further attribute

 

output options

output file format:

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

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

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-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

 

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 pdf2dcm 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
EXITCODE_MEMORY_EXHAUSTED         4

 

input file errors

EXITCODE_CANNOT_READ_INPUT_FILE   20
EXITCODE_NO_INPUT_FILES           21
EXITCODE_INVALID_INPUT_FILE       22

 

output file errors

EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_OUTPUT_FILE 40

 

ENVIRONMENT

The pdf2dcm 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.  

SEE ALSO

dcm2pdf(1)  

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2005-2018 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
PARAMETERS
OPTIONS
general options
DICOM document options
processing options
output options
LOGGING
COMMAND LINE
EXIT CODES
general
input file errors
output file errors
ENVIRONMENT
SEE ALSO
COPYRIGHT