---
name: "dump3d"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "survex"
version: "1.4.17-1+deb13u1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dump3d"
---

# dump3d(1)

text dump of processed survey data file

## NAME

dump3d - text dump of processed survey data file

## SYNOPSIS

**dump3d** \[--survey=*SURVEY*\] \[--rewind\] \[--show-dates\] \[--legs\] *INPUT\_FILE*

## DESCRIPTION

Dump out the entries in a processed survey data file - useful for debugging, and also provides a textual format which is fairly easy to parse if you want to write a simple script to pull out information from such files.

Don't be mislead by the "3d" in this tool's name - it can be used to dump a file in any format the "img" library can read, so it works with Survex **.3d** and **.pos** files, Compass **.plt** and **.plf** files, CMAP **.sht**, **.adj** and **.una** files.

If you're parsing the output in a script, you may want to use option **-legs** so you get a **LEG** item for each leg with from and to coordinates instead of each traverse being a **MOVE** item followed by a series of **LINE** items.

The **--show-dates** option uses **.** as the separator between date components by default (e.g. **2024.12.01**), but (since Survex 1.4.13) you can specify a different separator.  If this separator is **.** then **-** is used between two dates which form a range, otherwise a space is used.  For convenience, **-D** is provided as a short-cut for **--show-dates=-** which outputs dates in the ISO date format.

(The **--rewind** option is only provided to allow debugging and testing the **img\_rewind()** function.)

## OPTIONS

- **-s, --survey=*SURVEY***

  only load the sub-survey with this prefix

- **-r, --rewind**

  rewind file and read it a second time

- **-d, --show-dates\[=SEPARATOR\]**

  show survey date information (if present)

- **-D**

  equivalent to --show-dates=-

- **-l, --legs**

  convert MOVE and LINE into LEG

- **--help**

  display short help and exit

- **--version**

  output version information and exit

## SEE ALSO

[**aven**(1)](/aven/1.md), [**cavern**(1)](/cavern/1.md), [**diffpos**(1)](/diffpos/1.md), [**extend**(1)](/extend/1.md), [**sorterr**(1)](/sorterr/1.md), [**survexport**(1)](/survexport/1.md)

## COPYRIGHT

1998-2025