C++ Singly Linked Lists

This article explains the concept of singly linked list data structure and provides a sample implementation.

Singly Linked List Introduction

• Linked lists are building blocks for many other data structures like stacks and queues.
• Linked lists are a sequence of nodes containing data fields and pointers to the next node (or) next node and previous nodes based on its type.
• Linked lists permit addition/ removal of node in constant time.
• Unlike arrays the order of linked list elements need not be contiguous in memory.
• Unlike arrays there is no upper limit on the amount of memory reserved.
• A singly linked list is the simplest of linked lists.
• Each node of a singly linked list has data elements and a single link (pointer) that points to the next node of the list (or) NULL if it is the last node of the list.
• Addition/ Deletion of a node to the singly linked list involves the creation/ deletion of the node and adjusting the node pointers accordingly.
• A singly linked list could be represented as below:-
  

Implementation of a singly linked list

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Node class
class Node {
    int data;
    Node* next;

  public:
    Node() {};
    void SetData(int aData) { data = aData; };
    void SetNext(Node* aNext) { next = aNext; };
    int Data() { return data; };
    Node* Next() { return next; };
};

// List class
class List {
    Node *head;
  public:
    List() { head = NULL; };
    void Print();
    void Append(int data);
    void Delete(int data);
};

/**
 * Print the contents of the list
 */
void List::Print() {

    // Temp pointer
    Node *tmp = head;

    // No nodes
    if ( tmp == NULL ) {
    cout << "EMPTY" << endl;
    return;
    }

    // One node in the list
    if ( tmp->Next() == NULL ) {
    cout << tmp->Data();
    cout << " --> ";
    cout << "NULL" << endl;
    }
    else {
    // Parse and print the list
    do {
        cout << tmp->Data();
        cout << " --> ";
        tmp = tmp->Next();
    }
    while ( tmp != NULL );

    cout << "NULL" << endl;
    }
}

/**
 * Append a node to the linked list
 */
void List::Append(int data) {

    // Create a new node
    Node* newNode = new Node();
    newNode->SetData(data);
    newNode->SetNext(NULL);

    // Create a temp pointer
    Node *tmp = head;

    if ( tmp != NULL ) {
    // Nodes already present in the list
    // Parse to end of list
    while ( tmp->Next() != NULL ) {
        tmp = tmp->Next();
    }

    // Point the last node to the new node
    tmp->SetNext(newNode);
    }
    else {
    // First node in the list
    head = newNode;
    }
}

/**
 * Delete a node from the list
 */
void List::Delete(int data) {

    // Create a temp pointer
    Node *tmp = head;

    // No nodes
    if ( tmp == NULL )
    return;

    // Last node of the list
    if ( tmp->Next() == NULL ) {
    delete tmp;
    head = NULL;
    }
    else {
    // Parse thru the nodes
    Node *prev;
    do {
        if ( tmp->Data() == data ) break;
        prev = tmp;
        tmp = tmp->Next();
    } while ( tmp != NULL );

    // Adjust the pointers
    prev->SetNext(tmp->Next());

    // Delete the current node
    delete tmp;
    }
}

int main()
{
    // New list
    List list;

    // Append nodes to the list
    list.Append(100);
    list.Print();
    list.Append(200);
    list.Print();
    list.Append(300);
    list.Print();
    list.Append(400);
    list.Print();
    list.Append(500);
    list.Print();

    // Delete nodes from the list
    list.Delete(400);
    list.Print();
    list.Delete(300);
    list.Print();
    list.Delete(200);
    list.Print();
    list.Delete(500);
    list.Print();
    list.Delete(100);
    list.Print();
}

OUTPUT:-

100 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> 300 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> 300 --> 400 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> 300 --> 400 --> 500 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> 300 --> 500 --> NULL
100 --> 200 --> 500 --> NULL
100 --> 500 --> NULL
100 --> NULL
EMPTY