DSORG
Dataset organisation: the attribute that says how a dataset is structured, such as sequential, partitioned or VSAM.
Also written dataset organisation, dataset organization, DSORG=PS, DSORG=PO
DSORG, short for dataset organisation, tells z/OS how a dataset is built and so how it can be read. You see it in dataset details in ISPF, in the output of LISTDS, and sometimes in JCL.
The common values are few. PS means physical sequential: one set of records read from start to end. PO means partitioned: a library containing members, which covers both a PDS and a PDSE. VS means VSAM, such as a KSDS or ESDS. You may also see DA, direct access, in very old systems.
A U at the end, as in PSU or POU, means unmovable: the dataset must stay where it is on the disk.
The organisation is fixed when the dataset is created. You cannot turn a sequential dataset into a library; you create a new one and copy the data. The organisation also decides which tools work on it. You edit a member of a PO dataset in ISPF, but you work with a VSAM dataset through IDCAMS or a program.
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- DatasetWhat a mainframe calls a file: a named collection of records with a defined structure, rather than a loose stream of bytes.
- Sequential datasetThe simplest kind of dataset: records stored one after another and normally read from start to finish.
- Partitioned datasetA dataset that works like a library or folder, holding many separately named members inside one dataset.
- VSAMA family of dataset types built for fast record access by key, used where applications need to look records up rather than read them in order.
- PDSEThe modern version of a partitioned dataset, which reclaims space automatically and removes the old size limits.
- Record formatWhether the records in a dataset are all the same length or vary, and how they are blocked. Written as RECFM.