Linked Lists

A linked list is a linear data structure, in which the elements are not stored at contiguous
memory locations. The elements in a linked list are linked using pointers as shown in the below
image:

In simple words, a linked list consists of nodes where each node contains a data field and a
reference(link) to the next node in the list.

Types of Linked Lists:

Basically we can put linked lists into the following four items:
1. Single Linked List.
2. Double Linked List.
3. Circular Linked List.
4. Circular Double Linked List.

A single linked list is one in which all nodes are linked together in some sequential manner.
Hence, it is also called as linear linked list.
 A double linked list is one in which all nodes are linked together by multiple links which
helps in accessing both the successor node (next node) and predecessor node (previous node)
from any arbitrary node within the list. Therefore each node in a double linked list has two
link fields (pointers) to point to the left node (previous) and the right node (next). This helps
to traverse in forward direction and backward direction.

A circular linked list is one, which has no beginning and no end. A single linked list can be
made a circular linked list by simply storing address of the very first node in the link field of
the last node.

A circular double linked list is one, which has both the successor pointer and predecessor
pointer in the circular manner.
Operations on Single Linked List
The following operations are performed on a Single Linked List

 Insertion
 Deletion
 Display

Before we implement actual operations, first we need to set up an empty list. First, perform the
following steps before implementing actual operations.

 Step 1 - Include all the header files which are used in the program.
 Step 2 - Declare all the user defined functions.
 Step 3 - Define a Node structure with two members data and next
 Step 4 - Define a Node pointer 'head' and set it to NULL.
 Step 5 - Implement the main method by displaying operations menu and make suitable
function calls in the main method to perform user selected operation.

struct Node
{
int data;
struct Node
*next;}*head =
NULL;

Insertion
In a single linked list, the insertion operation can be performed in three ways. They are as
follows...

1. Inserting At Beginning of the list

2. Inserting At End of the list
3. Inserting At Specific location in the list

Inserting At Beginning of the list

We can use the following steps to insert a new node at beginning of the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Create a newNode with given value.

 Step 2 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)
 Step 3 - If it is Empty then, set newNode→next = NULL and head = newNode.
 Step 4 - If it is Not Empty then, set newNode→next = head and head = newNode.

void insertAtBeginning(int value)

{
struct Node *newNode;
newNode = (struct Node*)malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
newNode->data = value;
if(head == NULL)
{
newNode->next = NULL;
head = newNode;
}
else
{
newNode->next = head;
head = newNode;
}
printf("\nOne node inserted!!!\n");
}

Inserting At End of the list

We can use the following steps to insert a new node at end of the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Create a newNode with given value and newNode → next as NULL.
 Step 2 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL).
 Step 3 - If it is Empty then, set head = newNode.
 Step 4 - If it is Not Empty then, define a node pointer temp and initialize with head.
 Step 5 - Keep moving the temp to its next node until it reaches to the last node in the list
(until temp → next is equal to NULL).
 Step 6 - Set temp → next = newNode.
 void insertAtEnd(int value)
{
struct Node *newNode;
newNode = (struct Node*)malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
newNode->data = value;
newNode->next = NULL;
if(head == NULL)
head = newNode;
else
{
struct Node *temp = head;
while(temp->next != NULL)
{temp = temp->next;}
temp->next = newNode;
newNode->next= NULL;
}
printf("\nOne node inserted!!!\n");
}

Inserting At Specific location in the list (After a

Node)
We can use the following steps to insert a new node after a node in the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Create a newNode with given value.

 Step 2 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)
 Step 3 - If it is Empty then, set newNode → next = NULL and head = newNode.
 Step 4 - If it is Not Empty then, define a node pointer temp and initialize with head.
 Step 5 - Keep moving the temp to its next node until it reaches to the node after which
we want to insert the newNode (until temp1 → data is equal to location, here location is
the node value after which we want to insert the newNode).
 Step 6 - Every time check whether temp is reached to last node or not. If it is reached to
last node then display 'Given node is not found in the list!!! Insertion not
possible!!!' and terminate the function. Otherwise move the temp to next node.
 Step 7 - Finally, Set 'newNode → next = temp → next' and 'temp → next = newNode'
Deletion
In a single linked list, the deletion operation can be performed in three ways. They are as
follows...

1. Deleting from Beginning of the list

2. Deleting from End of the list
3. Deleting a Specific Node

Deleting from Beginning of the list

We can use the following steps to delete a node from beginning of the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)

 Step 2 - If it is Empty then, display 'List is Empty!!! Deletion is not possible' and
terminate the function.
 Step 3 - If it is Not Empty then, define a Node pointer 'temp' and initialize with head.
 Step 4 - Check whether list is having only one node (temp → next == NULL)
 Step 5 - If it is TRUE then set head = NULL and delete temp (Setting Empty list
conditions)
 Step 6 - If it is FALSE then set head = temp → next, and delete temp.

void removeBeginning()
{
if(head == NULL)
printf("\n\nList is Empty!!!");
else
{
struct Node *temp = head;
if(head->next == NULL)
{
head = NULL;
free(temp);
}
else
{
head = temp->next;
free(temp);
printf("\nOne node deleted!!!\n\n");
 }
}
}

Deleting from End of the list

We can use the following steps to delete a node from end of the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)

 Step 2 - If it is Empty then, display 'List is Empty!!! Deletion is not possible' and
terminate the function.
 Step 3 - If it is Not Empty then, define two Node pointers 'temp1' and 'temp2' and
initialize 'temp1' with head.
 Step 4 - Check whether list has only one Node (temp1 → next == NULL)
 Step 5 - If it is TRUE. Then, set head = NULL and delete temp1. And terminate the
function. (Setting Empty list condition)
 Step 6 - If it is FALSE. Then, set 'temp2 = temp1 ' and move temp1 to its next node.
Repeat the same until it reaches to the last node in the list. (until temp1 →
next == NULL)
 Step 7 - Finally, Set temp2 → next = NULL and delete temp1.

void removeEnd()
{
if(head == NULL)
{
printf("\nList is Empty!!!\n");
}
else
{
struct Node *temp1 = head,*temp2;
if(head->next == NULL)
head = NULL;
else
{
while(temp1->next != NULL)
{
temp2 = temp1;
 temp1 = temp1->next;
}
temp2->next = NULL;
}
free(temp1);
printf("\nOne node deleted!!!\n\n");
}
}

Deleting a Specific Node from the list

We can use the following steps to delete a specific node from the single linked list...

 Step 1 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)

 Step 2 - If it is Empty then, display 'List is Empty!!! Deletion is not possible' and
terminate the function.
 Step 3 - If it is Not Empty then, define two Node pointers 'temp1' and 'temp2' and
initialize 'temp1' with head.
 Step 4 - Keep moving the temp1 until it reaches to the exact node to be deleted or to the
last node. And every time set 'temp2 = temp1' before moving the 'temp1' to its next
node.
 Step 5 - If it is reached to the last node then display 'Given node not found in the list!
Deletion not possible!!!'. And terminate the function.
 Step 6 - If it is reached to the exact node which we want to delete, then check whether
list is having only one node or not
 Step 7 - If list has only one node and that is the node to be deleted, then
set head = NULL and delete temp1 (free(temp1)).
 Step 8 - If list contains multiple nodes, then check whether temp1 is the first node in the
list (temp1 == head).
 Step 9 - If temp1 is the first node then move the head to the next node (head = head →
next) and delete temp1.
 Step 10 - If temp1 is not first node then check whether it is last node in the list (temp1 →
next == NULL).
 Step 11 - If temp1 is last node then set temp2 → next = NULL and
delete temp1 (free(temp1)).
 Step 12 - If temp1 is not first node and not last node then set temp2 → next = temp1 →
next and delete temp1 (free(temp1)).

void removeSpecific(int delValue)

 {
struct Node *temp1 = head, *temp2;
while(temp1->data != delValue)
{
if(temp1 -> next == NULL){
printf("\nGiven node not found in the list!!!");
goto functionEnd;
}
temp2 = temp1;
temp1 = temp1 -> next;
}
temp2 -> next = temp1 -> next;
free(temp1);
printf("\nOne node deleted!!!\n\n");
functionEnd:
}

Displaying a Single Linked List

We can use the following steps to display the elements of a single linked list...

 Step 1 - Check whether list is Empty (head == NULL)

 Step 2 - If it is Empty then, display 'List is Empty!!!' and terminate the function.
 Step 3 - If it is Not Empty then, define a Node pointer 'temp' and initialize with head.
 Step 4 - Keep displaying temp → data with an arrow (--->) until temp reaches to the last
node
 Step 5 - Finally display temp → data with arrow pointing to NULL (temp → data --->
NULL).

void display()
{
if(head == NULL)
{
printf("\nList is Empty\n");
}
else
 {
struct Node *temp = head;
printf("\n\nList elements are - \n");
while(temp->next != NULL)
{
printf("%d --->",temp->data);
temp = temp->next;
}
printf("%d --->NULL",temp->data);
}
}