C Program for Deletion at the end of the Singly Linked List

March 19, 2025

Deletion at the end of the Singly Linked List

Deletion at the end of the singly linked list program in C is mentioned below along with the method to do it and the code as well.
In other words Remove or delete the last node of the Singly Linked List in C

Deletion at the end of the Singly Linked List using C

Steps required for deleting the node:-

  • If the Linked list has only one node then make head node null
  • Else traverse to the end of the linked list
  • While traversing store the previous node i.e. 2nd last node
  • Change the next of 2nd last node to null
  • Free/delete memory of the the last node
  • Now, 2nd last node becomes the last node.
Deletion at the end of the Singly Linked List in C

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Shortcode for the same –

void deleteEnd (struct Node **head)
{
  struct Node *temp = *head;
  struct Node *previous;

  // if there are no nodes in Linked List can't delete
  if (*head == NULL)
    {
      printf ("Linked List Empty, nothing to delete");
      return;
    }

  // if Linked List has only 1 node
  if (temp - > next == NULL)
    {
      printf ("%d deleted\n", (*head) - >
	      data);
      *head = NULL;
      return;
    }

  // else traverse to the last node
  while (temp - > next != NULL)
    {
      // store previous link node as we need to change its next val
      previous = temp;
      temp = temp - >
      next;
    }
  // Curr assign 2nd last node's next to Null
  previous - >
  next = NULL;
  // delete the last node
  printf ("%d deleted\n", temp - >
	  data);
  free (temp);
  // 2nd last now becomes the last node
}

C Code for deletion at the end of the Singly Linked List:-

Let us look at the code below for the same –

Run 
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

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

void deleteEnd (struct Node **head)
{
  struct Node *temp = *head;
  struct Node *previous;

  // if there are no nodes in Linked List can't delete
  if (*head == NULL)
    {
      printf ("Linked List Empty, nothing to delete");
      return;
    }

  // if Linked List has only 1 node
  if (temp->next == NULL)
    {
      printf ("%d deleted\n", (*head)->data);
      *head = NULL;
      return;
    }

  // else traverse to the last node
  while (temp->next != NULL)
    {
      // store previous link node as we need to change its next val
      previous = temp;
      temp = temp->next;
    }
  // Curr assign 2nd last node's next to Null
  previous->next = NULL;
  // delete the last node
  printf ("%d deleted\n", temp->data);
  free (temp);
  // 2nd last now becomes the last node
}

void display (struct Node *node)
{

  // as linked list will end when Node is Null
  while (node != NULL)
    {
      printf ("%d ", node->data);
      node = node->next;
    }
  printf ("\n\n");
}

int main ()
{
  //creating 4 pointers of type struct Node
  //So these can point to address of struct type variable
  struct Node *head = NULL;
  struct Node *node2 = NULL;
  struct Node *node3 = NULL;
  struct Node *node4 = NULL;
  struct Node *node5 = NULL;
  struct Node *node6 = NULL;

  // allocate 3 nodes in the heap 
  head = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));
  node2 = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));
  node3 = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));
  node4 = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));
  node5 = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));
  node6 = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node));


  head->data = 2;		// data set for head node 
  head->next = node2;		// next pointer assigned to address of node2 

  node2->data = 4;
  node2->next = node3;

  node3->data = 6;
  node3->next = node4;

  node4->data = 8;
  node4->next = node5;

  node5->data = 10;
  node5->next = node6;

  node6->data = 12;
  node6->next = NULL;

  printf ("Linked list: ");
  display (head);

  deleteEnd (&head);
  deleteEnd (&head);

  printf ("\nLinked list: ");
  display (head);

  return 0;
}

Output

Linked list: 2 4 6 8 10 12

12 deleted
10 deleted

Linked list: 2 4 6 8

Operation performed for Deletion in Singly Linked List as following:-

  • Deletion at the beginning of the Singly Linked List
  • Deletion at the end node of the Singly Linked List
  • Deletion at the nth node of the Singly Linked