DSLIST
ISPF option 3.4, the screen for listing datasets by name and working with them from the list.
Also written ISPF 3.4, option 3.4, data set list, =3.4
DSLIST, the data set list utility, is ISPF option 3.4. Many people spend more time on this screen than on any other. You type the start of a dataset name, such as ZBANK.DATA, and ISPF lists every catalogued dataset whose name begins that way.
You can use patterns. An asterisk stands for one whole part of a name, two asterisks for any number of parts, and a percent sign for a single character.
Each dataset in the list has a space on the left for a line command. E edits it, B browses it, V views it, D deletes it, R renames it and I shows its details, such as its size and record format. For a library, E or B first shows its list of members. Typing a slash shows a menu of everything you can do.
You can reach it from almost any ISPF screen by typing =3.4 on the command line. If you are new, learning to find a dataset in DSLIST and open it is one of the first useful skills.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- ISPFThe full-screen, menu-driven workbench most people use to do their day-to-day work on z/OS.
- DatasetWhat a mainframe calls a file: a named collection of records with a defined structure, rather than a loose stream of bytes.
- Dataset nameThe full name of a dataset, written as dot-separated qualifiers of up to eight characters each.
- High-level qualifierThe first part of a dataset name, which usually identifies the owner and drives how security and storage rules apply.
- CatalogThe system's index of where datasets live, so you can refer to a dataset by name without knowing which disk it is on.
- MemberOne named item inside a partitioned dataset, such as a single program, job or copybook within a library.