You are here: MrSID Decode SDK Command Line Tools > Viewing File Information

## Viewing File Information

The MrSID Decode SDK includes a command line tool called lidarinfo. Located in the bin directory, lidardinfo enables you to view the information in LAS or TXT files in text form.

###### Usage

The only required parameter for LAS files is -inputFile (or -i), which specifies the input file name. Text input files also require the -parse (or -p) parameter, which describes the order of the fields.

You may add other options and parameters as described in the table of switches below. The order of the switches in the syntax has no bearing on the output.

For examples of how to form a command, see "Example".

lidarinfo Switches
-inputFile (-i) | string | (Required) Specifies the name of the input file.
-parse (-p) | string | (Required for text input) Parse format that describes the fields in a text input file. Valid values are: x - x point values y - y point values z - z point values i - intensity r - return number n - number of returns d - scan direction e - edge of flight line a - scan angle c - class id p - source id u - user data t - GPS time R - red G - green B - blue s - skip this column Example: If you have five fields in the order GPS time, intensity, x, y and z and you only want the time and the point values, then specify -parse tsxyz, which skips the second (intensity) column and correctly labels the other four.
-metadata (-m) |  | Tells lidarinfo to display all metadata.
-bounds (-b) |  | Tells lidarinfo to determine the extents of the data by reading the data itself instead of reading min and max values reported in the header.
-skipHeader (-skip) | unsigned integer | Tells lidarinfo to skip the first n lines of text input files.
-returns (-r) |  | Decodes the points and displays a histogram of the number of points per return value.
-classification (-c) |  | Decodes the points and displays a histogram of the number of points per classification.
-h (-?) |  | Displays a short usage message.
-help |  | Displays a detailed usage message.
-version (-v) |  | Displays version information.
-verbose (-V) |  | Tells lidarinfo to display more verbose error messages.
-credits |  | Displays credits and copyrights.

###### Example

The command

lidarinfo -i LakeRoosevelt_2.sid

returns the following information:

    Basic LiDAR Info:
       Format:            MG4 4.0.0.1
       Number of Points:  3144893399
       Bounds Min:        408841.780000 5370276.770000 391.350000
       Bounds Max:        447234.600000 5422959.680000 1188.890000
       Scale:             0.001 0.001 0.001
       Offset:            408841.780000 5370276.770000 391.350000
       Supported Fields:  GPSTime X Y Z Intensity ReturnNum NumReturns ClassId ScanDir ScanAngle UserData SourceId
       Spatial Reference: None