Doubly linked list

Doubly linked list is a complex type of linked list in which a node contains a
pointer to the previous as well as the next node in the sequence. Therefore, in a
doubly linked list, a node consists of three parts: node data, pointer to the next
node in sequence (next pointer) , pointer to the previous node (previous pointer). A
sample node in a doubly linked list is shown in the figure.

A doubly linked list containing three nodes having numbers from 1 to 3 in their
data part, is shown in the following image.

In C, structure of a node in doubly linked list can be given as :

struct node
{
struct node *prev;
int data;
struct node *next;
}
The prev part of the first node and the next part of the last node will always
contain null indicating end in each direction.

In a singly linked list, we could traverse only in one direction, because each node
contains address of the next node and it doesn't have any record of its previous
nodes. However, doubly linked list overcome this limitation of singly linked list.
Due to the fact that, each node of the list contains the address of its previous node,
we can find all the details about the previous node as well by using the previous
address stored inside the previous part of each node.

Operations on Doubly Linked List

In a double linked list, we perform the following operations...

1. Insertion
2. Deletion
3. Display

Insertion
In a double linked list, the insertion operation can be performed in three ways 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 the beginning of the double linked list...

● Step 1 - ​Create a ​newNode​ with given value and ​newNode → previous​ as ​NULL​.
● Step 2 - ​Check whether list is ​Empty​ (​head​ == ​NULL​)
● Step 3 - ​If it is ​Empty​ then, assign ​NULL​ to ​newNode → next​ and ​newNode​ to ​head​.
● Step 4 - ​If it is ​not Empty​ then, assign ​head​ to ​newNode → next​ and ​newNode​ to
head​.
Inserting At End of the list
We can use the following steps to insert a new node at the end of the doubly 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 assign ​NULL​ to ​newNode → previous​ and
newNode​ to ​head​.
● 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 - ​Assign ​newNode​ to ​temp → next​ and ​temp​ to ​newNode → previous​.

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 doubly 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, assign ​NULL​ to both ​newNode → previous​ & ​newNode
→ next​ and set ​newNode​ to ​head​.
● Step 4 - ​If it is ​not Empty​ then, define two node pointers ​temp1​ & ​temp2​ and
initialize ​temp1​ with ​head​.
● Step 5 - ​Keep moving the ​temp1​ 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 ​temp1​ is reached to the last node. If it is reached to
the last node then display ​'Given node is not found in the list!!! Insertion not
possible!!!'​ and terminate the function. Otherwise move the ​temp1​ to next node.
 ● Step 7 - ​Assign ​temp1 → next​ to ​temp2​, ​newNode​ to ​temp1 → next​, ​temp1​ to
newNode → previous​, ​temp2​ to ​newNode → next​ and ​newNode​ to ​temp2 →
previous​.

Deletion
In a double linked list, the deletion operation can be performed in three ways 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 double 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 → previous​ is equal to
temp → next​)
● Step 5 - ​If it is ​TRUE​, then set ​head​ to ​NULL​ and delete ​temp​ (Setting ​Empty​ list
conditions)
● Step 6 - ​If it is ​FALSE​, then assign ​temp → next​ to ​head​, ​NULL​ to ​head → previous
and delete ​temp​.
Deleting from End of the list
We can use the following steps to delete a node from end of the double 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 has only one Node (​temp → previous​ and ​temp → next
both are ​NULL​)
● Step 5 - ​If it is ​TRUE​, then assign ​NULL​ to ​head​ and delete ​temp​. And terminate
from the function. (Setting ​Empty​ list condition)
● Step 6 - ​If it is ​FALSE​, then keep moving ​temp​ until it reaches to the last node in the
list. (until ​temp → next​ is equal to ​NULL​)
● Step 7 - ​Assign ​NULL​ to ​temp → previous → next​ and delete ​temp​.

Deleting a Specific Node from the list

We can use the following steps to delete a specific node from the doubly 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 - ​Keep moving the ​temp​ until it reaches to the exact node to be deleted or to the
last 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 fuction.
● 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 which is to be deleted then set
head​ to ​NULL​ and delete ​temp​ (​free(temp)​).
 ● Step 8 - ​If list contains multiple nodes, then check whether ​temp​ is the first node in the
list (​temp == head​).
● Step 9 - ​If ​temp​ is the first node, then move the ​head​ to the next node (​head = head →
next​), set ​head​ of ​previous​ to ​NULL​ (​head → previous = NULL​) and delete ​temp​.
● Step 10 - ​If ​temp​ is not the first node, then check whether it is the last node in the list
(​temp → next == NULL​).
● Step 11 - ​If ​temp​ is the last node then set ​temp​ of ​previous​ of ​next​ to ​NULL​ (​temp
→ previous → next = NULL​) and delete ​temp​ (​free(temp​)).
● Step 12 - ​If ​temp​ is not the first node and not the last node, then set ​temp​ of ​previous
of ​next​ to ​temp​ of ​next​ (​temp → previous → next = temp → next​), ​temp​ of ​next​ of
previous​ to ​temp​ of ​previous​ (​temp → next → previous = temp → previous​) and
delete ​temp​ (​free(temp)​).

Displaying a Double Linked List

We can use the following steps to display the elements of a doubly 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 - ​Display ​'NULL <--- '​.
● Step 5 - ​Keep displaying ​temp → data​ with an arrow (​<===>​) until ​temp​ reaches to
the last node
● Step 6 - ​Finally, display ​temp → data​ with arrow pointing to ​NULL​ (​temp → data
---> NULL​).
Applications/Uses of doubly linked list in real life

There are various applications of doubly linked list in the real world. Some of them
can be listed as:

● Doubly linked list can be used in navigation systems where both front and
back navigation is required.
● It is used by browsers to implement backward and forward navigation of
visited web pages i.e. ​back​ and ​forward​ buttons.
● It is also used by various applications to implement ​Undo and ​Redo
functionality.
● It can also be used to represent a deck of cards in games.
● It is also used to represent various states of a game.