Multi-positioning in IMS (Information Management System) refers to the capability of positioning within a database to access or modify multiple occurrences of a segment or group of segments within a single database call. It allows applications to efficiently retrieve, update, or delete multiple occurrences of a segment or group of segments without requiring separate database calls for each occurrence.

In a hierarchical database model used by IMS, data is organized into parent-child relationships, with each segment potentially having multiple occurrences or occurrences at different levels of the hierarchy. Multi-positioning enables applications to navigate through these hierarchical structures and access or manipulate multiple occurrences of segments within a single database call.
For example, consider a database containing customer information where each customer can have multiple orders associated with them. With multi-positioning, an application can position to a specific customer segment and retrieve all orders associated with that customer in a single database call, rather than making separate calls for each order.

Multi-positioning is achieved using special DL/I (Data Language/I) commands and qualifiers that allow applications to specify criteria for positioning within the database hierarchy and retrieving multiple occurrences of segments. These commands and qualifiers provide flexibility and efficiency in database access, particularly for applications dealing with hierarchical data structures containing repeating groups or multiple occurrences of segments.