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Data Structurescript

The document discusses linked lists in C. It defines a linked list as a dynamic collection of elements called nodes, where each node contains a data field and a next pointer linking to the next node. It shows how to declare a linked list struct with these elements and create nodes with malloc(). A node is added to the end of the list by linking its next pointer to the current last node. The list can be traversed from the head node by repeatedly following each node's next pointer until the terminating NULL pointer is reached.

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john kenneth cachero
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49 views

Data Structurescript

The document discusses linked lists in C. It defines a linked list as a dynamic collection of elements called nodes, where each node contains a data field and a next pointer linking to the next node. It shows how to declare a linked list struct with these elements and create nodes with malloc(). A node is added to the end of the list by linking its next pointer to the current last node. The list can be traversed from the head node by repeatedly following each node's next pointer until the terminating NULL pointer is reached.

Uploaded by

john kenneth cachero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hi guys today we will about discuss LINKED list using C in Data Structure and Algorithms

First of all, what is Linked List?


A dynamic memory allocation collection type.
It is always a Dynamic Collection

A linked list is a way to store a collection of elements. Like an array these can be character or integers.
Each element in a linked list is stored in the form of a node.

Node:

A node is a collection of two sub-elements or parts. A data part that stores the element and a next part that
stores the link to the next node.

Linked List:

A linked list is formed when many such nodes are linked together to form a chain. Each node points to the
next node present in the order. The first node is always used as a reference to traverse the list and is
called HEAD. The last node points to NULL.

Declaring a Linked list :

In C language, a linked list can be implemented using structure and pointers .

struct LinkedList{
int data;
struct LinkedList *next;
};

The above definition is used to create every node in the list. The data field stores the element and
the next is a pointer to store the address of the next node.
Noticed something unusual with next?

In place of a data type, struct LinkedList is written before next. That's because its a self-referencing
pointer. It means a pointer that points to whatever it is a part of. Here next is a part of a node and it will
point to the next node.

Creating a Node:

Let's define a data type of struct LinkedListto make code cleaner.

typedef struct LinkedList *node; //Define node as pointer of data type struct
LinkedList

node createNode(){
node temp; // declare a node
temp = (node)malloc(sizeof(struct LinkedList)); // allocate memory using
malloc()
temp->next = NULL;// make next point to NULL
return temp;//return the new node
}

typedef is used to define a data type in C.

malloc() is used to dynamically allocate a single block of memory in C, it is available in the header
file stdlib.h.

sizeof() is used to determine size in bytes of an element in C. Here it is used to determine size of each
node and sent as a parameter to malloc.

The above code will create a node with data as value and next pointing to NULL.

Let's see how to add a node to the linked list:

node addNode(node head, int value){


node temp,p;// declare two nodes temp and p
temp = createNode();//createNode will return a new node with data = value
and next pointing to NULL.
temp->data = value; // add element's value to data part of node
if(head == NULL){
head = temp; //when linked list is empty
}
else{
p = head;//assign head to p
while(p->next != NULL){
p = p->next;//traverse the list until p is the last node.The last
node always points to NULL.
}
p->next = temp;//Point the previous last node to the new node created.
}
return head;
}

Here the new node will always be added after the last node. This is known as inserting a node at the rear
end.

Food for thought


This type of linked list is known as simple or singly linked list. A simple linked list can be traversed in only
one direction from head to the last node.

The last node is checked by the condition :

p->next = NULL;

Here -> is used to access next sub element of node p. NULL denotes no node exists after the current
node , i.e. its the end of the list.

Traversing the list:

The linked list can be traversed in a while loop by using the head node as a starting reference:

node p;
p = head;
while(p != NULL){
p = p->next;
}

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