DCMTK: findscu: DICOM query (C-FIND) SCU

DCMTK Version 3.7.0 OFFIS DICOM Toolkit

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findscu: DICOM query (C-FIND) SCU

# SYNOPSIS

    findscu [options] peer port [dcmfile-in...]

# DESCRIPTION

The findscu application implements an SCU for the Query/Retrieve Service Class and the Basic Worklist Management Service Class. findscu only supports query functionality using the C-FIND message. It sends query keys to an SCP and awaits responses. The application can be used to test SCPs of the Query/Retrieve and Basic Worklist Management Service Classes.

# PARAMETERS

    peer        hostname of DICOM peer

    port        tcp/ip port number of peer

    dcmfile-in  DICOM query file(s)

# 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

## network options

    override matching keys:

      -k    --key  [k]ey: gggg,eeee="str", path or dictionary name="str"
              override matching key

    query information model:

      -W    --worklist
              use modality worklist information model (default)

      -P    --patient
              use patient root information model

      -S    --study
              use study root information model

      -O    --psonly
              use patient/study only information model

    IP protocol version:

      -i4   --ipv4
              use IPv4 only (default)

      -i6   --ipv6
              use IPv6 only

      -i0   --ip-auto
              use DNS lookup to determine IP protocol

    application entity titles:

      -aet  --aetitle  [a]etitle: string
              set my calling AE title (default: FINDSCU)

      -aec  --call  [a]etitle: string
              set called AE title of peer (default: ANY-SCP)

    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

    proposed transmission transfer syntaxes:

      -x=   --propose-uncompr
              propose all uncompressed TS, explicit VR
              with local byte ordering first (default)

      -xe   --propose-little
              propose all uncompressed TS, explicit VR
              little endian first

      -xb   --propose-big
              propose all uncompressed TS, explicit VR
              big endian first

      -xd   --propose-deflated
              propose deflated explicit VR little endian TS
              and all uncompressed transfer syntaxes

      -xi   --propose-implicit
              propose implicit VR little endian TS only

    deflate compression level (only with --propose-deflated):

      +cl   --compression-level  [l]evel: integer (default: 6)
              0=uncompressed, 1=fastest, 9=best compression

    other network options:

      -to   --timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: unlimited)
              timeout for connection requests

      -ts   --socket-timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: 60)
              timeout for network socket (0 for none)

      -ta   --acse-timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: 30)
              timeout for ACSE messages

      -td   --dimse-timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: unlimited)
              timeout for DIMSE messages

      -pdu  --max-pdu  [n]umber of bytes: integer (4096..131072)
              set max receive pdu to n bytes (default: 16384)

            --repeat  [n]umber: integer
              repeat n times

            --abort
              abort association instead of releasing it

            --cancel  [n]umber: integer
              cancel after n responses (default: never)

## transport layer security (TLS) options

    transport protocol stack:

      -tls  --disable-tls
              use normal TCP/IP connection (default)

      +tls  --enable-tls  [p]rivate key file, [c]ertificate file: string
              use authenticated secure TLS connection

      +tla  --anonymous-tls
              use secure TLS connection without certificate

    private key password (only with --enable-tls):

      +ps   --std-passwd
              prompt user to type password on stdin (default)

      +pw   --use-passwd  [p]assword: string
              use specified password

      -pw   --null-passwd
              use empty string as password

    key and certificate file format:

      -pem  --pem-keys
              read keys and certificates as PEM file (default)

      -der  --der-keys
              read keys and certificates as DER file

    certification authority:

      +cf   --add-cert-file  [f]ilename: string
              add certificate file to list of certificates

      +cd   --add-cert-dir  [d]irectory: string
              add certificates in d to list of certificates

      +crl  --add-crl-file  [f]ilename: string
              add certificate revocation list file
              (implies --enable-crl-vfy)

      +crv  --enable-crl-vfy
              enable leaf CRL verification

      +cra  --enable-crl-all
              enable full chain CRL verification

    security profile:

      +ph   --list-profiles
              list supported TLS profiles and exit

      +pg   --profile-8996
              BCP 195 RFC 8996 TLS Profile (default)

      +pm   --profile-8996-mod
              Modified BCP 195 RFC 8996 TLS Profile

              # only available if underlying TLS library supports
              # all TLS features required for this profile

      +py   --profile-bcp195-nd
              Non-downgrading BCP 195 TLS Profile (retired)

      +px   --profile-bcp195
              BCP 195 TLS Profile (retired)

      +pz   --profile-bcp195-ex
              Extended BCP 195 TLS Profile (retired)

      +pb   --profile-basic
              Basic TLS Secure Transport Connection Profile (retired)

              # only available if underlying TLS library supports 3DES

      +pa   --profile-aes
              AES TLS Secure Transport Connection Profile (retired)

      +pn   --profile-null
              Authenticated unencrypted communication
              (retired, was used in IHE ATNA)

    ciphersuite:

      +cc   --list-ciphers
              list supported TLS ciphersuites and exit

      +cs   --cipher  [c]iphersuite name: string
              add ciphersuite to list of negotiated suites

    server name indication:

            --no-sni
              do not use SNI (default)

            --request-sni  [s]erver name: string
              request server name s

    pseudo random generator:

      +rs   --seed  [f]ilename: string
              seed random generator with contents of f

      +ws   --write-seed
              write back modified seed (only with --seed)

      +wf   --write-seed-file  [f]ilename: string (only with --seed)
              write modified seed to file f

    peer authentication:

      -rc   --require-peer-cert
              verify peer certificate, fail if absent (default)

      -ic   --ignore-peer-cert
              don't verify peer certificate

## output options

    general:

      -od   --output-directory  [d]irectory: string (default: ".")
              write output files to existing directory d

    automatic data correction:

      +dc   --enable-correction
              enable automatic data correction

      -dc   --disable-correction
              disable automatic data correction (default)

    C-FIND responses:

      +sr   --show-responses
              always output responses to the logger

      -sr   --hide-responses
              do not output responses to the logger

      -X    --extract
              extract responses to DICOM file (rsp0001.dcm...)

      -Xx   --extract-xml
              extract responses to XML file (rsp0001.xml...)

      -Xs   --extract-xml-single  [f]ilename: string
              extract all responses to given XML file f

      -Xlo  --limit-output  [n]umber: integer
              limit number of responses extracted to file to n
              (default: unlimited)

# NOTES

Each file supplied on the command line will be sent to the SCP as part of a C-FIND request. The query file must be a valid DICOM data set containing the dataset part of a C-FIND-RQ message. The query file could, for instance, be created with the dump2dcm utility from a script like the following example:

    # query patient names and IDs
    (0008,0052) CS [PATIENT]     # QueryRetrieveLevel
    (0010,0010) PN []            # PatientName
    (0010,0020) LO []            # PatientID

Individual attributes of each file sent can be modified or supplemented using the -k option. For example the command:

    findscu -P -k "(0010,0010)=HEWETT*" caesar 5678 patqry.dcm

will, when sent to the SCP caesar at TCP/IP port 5678, cause any PatientName attribute in patqry.dcm to have the value "HEWETT*". If such an attribute is present it will be replaced, if absent it will be inserted. The -k option can be present more than once. The value part (after the '=') may be absent causing the attribute to be sent with zero length.

In earlier versions of findscu, the tag keys were specified without braces around group and element number, e. g. "0010,0010" instead of "(0010,0010)". It is recommended switching to the new syntax; however, the old syntax is still working.

Also -k accepts dictionary names instead of element tags for specifying DICOM elements. For example, the findscu call above then reads like this:

    findscu -P -k PatientName="HEWETT*" caesar 5678 patqry.dcm

It is also possible to specify sequences, items and nested attributes using the -k option. In these cases, a special "path" notation has to be used, e. g.

    findscu -W -k "(0040,0100)[0].Modality=CT" caesar 5678

This call queries a worklist server at host caesar for any planned procedures for CT modalities by specifying tag (0040,0100) "Scheduled Procedure Step Sequence" and an attribute "Modality" in the first item of this sequence with value "CT". Details on this path notation can be found in the documentation of dcmodify.

If no file is specified on the command line, the query must be specified completely with one or more -k options. If multiple query files are provided, findscu will send multiple C-FIND requests to the SCP.

Each set of response identifiers received will be output to the logger unless option --hide-responses, any of the below --extract variants, --quiet or an appropriate logger configuration is used. In such cases, the output to the logger can be enforced with option --show-responses.

In addition, the response datasets can also be extracted as individual DICOM files (using option --extract) or XML files (using option --extract-xml). The output format of the latter is described by the file dcm2xml.dtd (starting with top-level element "data-set"). For XML files, the Specific Character Set is mapped automatically to an appropriate XML encoding. If this is not possible, e.g. in case of ISO 2022 character sets, non-ASCII characters and those below #32 are stored as "&#nnn;" where "nnn" refers to the numeric character code. Please note that this might lead to invalid character entity references (such as "&#27;" for ESC) and will cause most XML parsers to reject the document.

Alternatively, all response datasets of an association can be extracted to a single XML file using option --extract-xml-single. The top-level element of the XML document is "responses" (with a "type" attribute of "C-FIND"). The individual datasets are stored as described above. If support for character set conversion is enabled, UTF-8 encoding is used, i.e. all datasets are converted to UTF-8 encoding (which is strongly recommended in order to avoid issues with non-ASCII characters when different character sets are used).

## DICOM Conformance

The findscu application supports the following SOP Classes as an SCU:

    FINDPatientRootQueryRetrieveInformationModel       1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.2.1.1
    FINDStudyRootQueryRetrieveInformationModel         1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.2.2.1
    FINDPatientStudyOnlyQueryRetrieveInformationModel  1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.2.3.1
    FINDModalityWorklistInformationModel               1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.31

The findscu application will propose presentation contexts for one of the abovementioned supported SOP Classes depending on command line options (-P, -S, -O or -W). Basically, the following transfer syntaxes are supported:

    LittleEndianImplicitTransferSyntax                 1.2.840.10008.1.2
    LittleEndianExplicitTransferSyntax                 1.2.840.10008.1.2.1
    DeflatedExplicitVRLittleEndianTransferSyntax       1.2.840.10008.1.2.1.99 (*)
    BigEndianExplicitTransferSyntax                    1.2.840.10008.1.2.2

(*) if compiled with zlib support enabled (see --version output)

Which transfer syntaxes are actually proposed in what order, can be specified with the --propose options.

The findscu application does not support extended negotiation.

# 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).

# ENVIRONMENT

The findscu 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.

Depending on the command line options specified, the findscu 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.

# FILES

<datadir>/dcm2xml.dtd - Document Type Definition (DTD) file

# SEE ALSO

movescu(1), dump2dcm(1), dcmodify(1)

# COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 1994-2025 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.

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