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CLI: Inspecting datasets (info & params)

These commands provide read-only inspection utilities for Paravision datasets. They are designed to help users understand dataset structure and metadata before running any conversion.

Typical workflow:

  1. Use brkraw info to understand study and scan structure
  2. Use brkraw params to inspect acquisition parameters
  3. Proceed to convert or convert-batch

brkraw info

Print a formatted summary of a Paravision dataset.

This command is intended to answer questions such as:

  • What scans are present in this study?
  • How are scans and recos organized?
  • What metadata is available at the study and scan levels?

Basic usage of info

brkraw info /path/to/study

If no path is provided, the command uses BRKRAW_PATH.

Scope control

brkraw info /path/to/study --scope study
brkraw info /path/to/study --scope scan
brkraw info /path/to/study --scope full

Available scopes:

  • study: study-level summary only
  • scan: scan-level summary only
  • full (default): study and scan

Scan filtering

brkraw info /path/to/study --scope scan -s 3 4

Multiple scan IDs may be provided.

Reco visibility

brkraw info /path/to/study --show-reco

Include reco entries under each scan.

Environment defaults

The following environment variables are respected:

  • BRKRAW_PATH: default dataset path
  • BRKRAW_SCAN_ID: default scan IDs (comma-separated)

brkraw params

Search parameter files and print matching entries as YAML.

This command is useful for:

  • Inspecting acquisition parameters before conversion
  • Debugging sequence-specific behavior
  • Verifying values used by specs and rules

Basic usage

brkraw params /path/to/study -k PVM_RepetitionTime -s 3

Restrict to specific parameter files

brkraw params -k VisuAcqEchoTime -s 4 -f visu_pars

Supported parameter files include:

  • method
  • acqp
  • visu_pars
  • reco

Reco-level parameters

brkraw params -k RECO_size -s 3 -r 1

The reco ID is optional and only required for reco-level files.

Environment defaults

If options are omitted, the following environment variables are used:

  • BRKRAW_PATH
  • BRKRAW_SCAN_ID
  • BRKRAW_RECO_ID
  • BRKRAW_PARAM_KEY
  • BRKRAW_PARAM_FILE

Design notes

  • info focuses on structural, human-readable summaries
  • params focuses on key-based, machine-readable output (YAML)
  • Neither command modifies data or configuration
  • Both commands are safe to run on shared or read-only datasets