Circular Linked

List
Circular Linked Lists
• A Circular Linked List is a special type of Linked List
• It supports traversing from the end of the list to the
beginning by making the last node point back to the head of
the list
• A Rear pointer is often used instead of a Head pointer

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Rear
Motivation
• Circular linked lists are usually sorted
• Circular linked lists are useful for playing
video and sound files in “looping” mode
• They are also a stepping stone to
implementing graphs.
Circular Linked List Definition
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

struct Node{
int data;
Node* next;
};
Circular Linked List Operations

insertNode(int item)
//add new node to ordered circular linked list

deleteNode(int item)
//remove a node from circular linked list

print()
//print the Circular Linked List once
 Traverse the list
void print(){
NodePtr Cur;
if(Rear != NULL){
Cur = Rear->next;
do{
cout << Cur->data << " ";
Cur = Cur->next;
}while(Cur != Rear->next);
cout << endl;
}
}
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Rear
 Insert Node
• Insert into an empty list

Note New = new Node;

New->data = 10;

Rear = New;
Rear->next = Rear;
10

New Rear
• Insert to head of a Circular Linked List
New->next = Cur; // same as: New->next = Rear->next;
Prev->next = New; // same as: Rear->next = New;

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New Cur Prev

Rear
• Insert to middle of a Circular Linked List between
Pre and Cur
New->next = Cur;
Prev->next = New;

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40
Prev Cur Rear

New
• Insert to end of a Circular Linked List
New->next = Cur; // same as: New->next = Rear->next;
Prev->next = New; // same as: Rear->next = New;
Rear = New;

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Cur Prev New

Rear
void insertNode(int item){
NodePtr New, Cur, Prev;
New = new Node;
New->data = item;
if(Rear == NULL){ // insert into empty list
Rear = New;
Rear->next = Rear;
return;
}
Prev = Rear;
Cur = Rear->next;
do{ // find Prev and Cur
if(item <= Cur->data)
break;
Prev = Cur;
Cur = Cur->next;
}while(Cur != Rear->next);
New->next = Cur; // revise pointers
Prev->next = New;
if(item > Rear->data) //revise Rear pointer if adding to end
Rear = New;
}
• Delete a node from a single-node Circular Linked
List

Rear = NULL;
delete Cur;

10

Rear = Cur = Prev

Delete Node
• Delete the head node from a Circular Linked List
Prev->next = Cur->next; // same as: Rear->next = Cur->next
delete Cur;

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Rear Prev
Cur
• Delete a middle node Cur from a Circular Linked
List
Prev->next = Cur->next;
delete Cur;

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Prev Cur Rear

• Delete the end node from a Circular Linked List
Prev->next = Cur->next; // same as: Rear->next;

delete Cur;
Rear = Prev;

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Prev Cur
Rear
void deleteNode(int item){
NodePtr Cur, Prev;
if(Rear == NULL){
cout << "Trying to delete empty list" << endl;
return;
}
Prev = Rear;
Cur = Rear->next;
do{ // find Prev and Cur
if(item <= Cur->data) break;
Prev = Cur;
Cur = Cur->next;
}while(Cur != Rear->next);
if(Cur->data != item){ // data does not exist
cout << "Data Not Found" << endl;
return;
}
if(Cur == Prev){ // delete single-node list
Rear = NULL;
delete Cur;
return;
}
if(Cur == Rear) // revise Rear pointer if deleting end
Rear = Prev;
Prev->next = Cur->next; // revise pointers
delete Cur;
}
void main(){
NodePtr Rear = NULL;

insertNode(Rear, 3);
insertNode(Rear, 1);
insertNode(Rear, 7);
insertNode(Rear, 5);
insertNode(Rear, 8); Result is:
print(Rear); 13578
deleteNode(Rear, 1); 57
deleteNode(Rear, 3);
1578
deleteNode(Rear, 8);
print(Rear);
insertNode(Rear, 1);
insertNode(Rear, 8);
print(Rear);
}