# Displaying images and metadata

The showinf command line tool can be used to show the images and metadata contained in a file.

If no options are specified, showinf displays a summary of available options.

To simply display images:

    showinf /path/to/file

All of the images in the first ‘series’ (or 5 dimensional stack) will be opened and displayed in a simple image viewer. The number of series, image dimensions, and other basic metadata will be printed to the console.

-noflat

  Do not flatten resolutions into individual series:

      showinf -noflat /path/to/file

-series SERIES

  Displays a different series, for example the second one:

      showinf -series 1 /path/to/file

  Note that series numbers begin with 0.

-omexml

  Displays the OME-XML metadata for a file on the console:

      showinf -omexml /path/to/file

-nopix

  Image reading can be suppressed if only the metadata is needed:

      showinf -nopix /path/to/file

-option KEY VALUE

  Passes options expressed as key/value pairs:

      showinf -option key value /path/to/file

  e.g. additional reader options, see Additional reader and writer options:

      showinf -option leicalif.old_physical_size true /path/to/file

  Added in version 5.3.0.

-range START END

  A subset of images can also be opened instead of the entire stack, by specifying the start and end plane indices (inclusive):

      showinf -range 0 0 /path/to/file

  That opens only the first image in first series in the file.

-crop X,Y,WIDTH,HEIGHT

  For very large images, it may also be useful to open a small tile from the image instead of reading everything into memory. To open the upper-left-most 512×512 tile from the images:

      showinf -crop 0,0,512,512 /path/to/file

  The parameter to `-crop` is of the format `x,y,width,height`. The (x, y) coordinate (0, 0) is the upper-left corner of the image; `x + width` must be less than or equal to the image width and `y + height` must be less than or equal to the image height.

-no-upgrade

  By default, showinf will check for a new version of Bio-Formats. This can take several seconds (especially on a slow internet connection); to save time, the update check can be disabled:

      showinf -no-upgrade /path/to/file

-novalid

  Similarly, if OME-XML is displayed then it will automatically be validated. On slow or missing internet connections, this can take some time, and so can be disabled:

      showinf -novalid /path/to/file

-nocore

  Most output can be suppressed:

      showinf -nocore /path/to/file

-omexml-only

  Displays the OME-XML alone:

      showinf -omexml-only /path/to/file

  This is particularly helpful when there are hundreds or thousands of series.

-debug

  Enables debugging output if more information is needed:

      showinf -debug /path/to/file

-fast

  Displays an image as quickly as possible. This is achieved by converting the raw data into a 8 bit RGB image:

      showinf -fast /path/to/file

  Note

  Due to the data conversion to a RGB image, using this option results in a loss of precision.

-autoscale

  Adjusts the display range to the minimum and maximum pixel values:

      showinf -autoscale /path/to/file

  Note

  This option automatically sets the `-fast` option and suffers from the same limitations.

-cache

  Caches the reader under the same directory as the input file after initialization:

      showinf -cache /path/to/file

-cache-dir DIR

  Specifies the base directory under which the reader should be cached:

      showinf -cache-dir /tmp/cachedir /path/to/file

-swap DIMENSIONORDER

  Overrides the default input dimension order:

      showinf -swap XYZTC /path/to/file

-format FORMAT

  Specifies the reader to be used for opening the specified file. The utility will look for a reader named `loci.formats.in.<FORMAT>Reader`. If the reader does not exist or no `-format` option is passed, the file will be opened with `loci.formats.in.ImageReader`:

      showinf -format APNG test.png

-fill UNSIGNED_BYTE

  Sets the fill value to use for undefined pixels. Valid values are 0-255, with 0 representing a black pixel and 255 representing a white pixel. The value set here will be applied to all bytes in an undefined pixel, e.g. setting to 128 (0x80) on a uint16 image will result in a pixel value of 32896 (0x8080). The default fill value is typically 0, but some readers may have different defaults.

  Added in version 6.13.0.

-

  Batch process multiple files reading file names and any additional options line by line from stdin. For every line from stdin `showinf` is invoked as called from the command prompt, but substituting `-` with the stdin line.

      ls *.tiff | showinf -

  Added in version 8.0.0.