Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.9-5build1_amd64 
NAME
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
'' 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) 1994-2024 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.
Version 3.6.9 Thu May 22 2025 08:24:51 findscu(1)