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Singly Linked List in C
Singly Linked List in C is one of the simplest linear data structures, that we use for storing our data in an easy and efficient way. Linked List in C comprises nodes like structures, which can further be divided into 2 parts in the case of a singly linked list. These two parts are-:
- Node – for storing the data.
- Pointer – for storing the address of the next node.
In a Singly linked list there is only one pointer type variable, that contains the address of the next node.


Implementation of Singly Linked List in C
We implement Linked List using user defined data type, with the help of structure or struct. Since Singly linked list has only 1 pointer type value, which means it can store the address of only one node, which will be the next to it. As a result, we can only move in one direction in a Singly Linked List i.e; from head to tail, which makes traversing a linked list more difficult. Implementing linked list rather than using array is better, since the insertion and deletion operations in Linked List are less complicated and less time consuming in comparison with arrays.


How to Construct a Singly Linked List in C ?
For constructing a singly linked list in C we make use of the structure keyword(struct), for creating user-defined data types, which can store various different types of data in the nodes of the singly linked list.
Each linked list has two parts –
- One for storing the desired data
- The other is a pointer type variable, which stores the address of the next node.
The syntax for creating a node
struct Node { int Data; Struct Node *next; };
This code will create a data type Node, which will be able to store two values-:
- int value – data
- pointer value – address of the next node
Insertion of a node
void insertStart (struct Node **head, int data) { struct Node *newNode = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node)); newNode - > data = data; newNode - > next = *head; //changing the new head to this freshly entered node *head = newNode; }


Deletion of a node
void deleteStart(struct Node **head) { struct Node *temp = *head; // if there are no nodes in Linked List can't delete if (*head == NULL) { printf ("Linked List Empty, nothing to delete"); return; } // move head to next node *head = (*head)->next; free (temp); }


Traversal in a Singly Linked List
void display(struct Node* node) { printf("Linked List: "); // as linked list will end when Node is Null while(node!=NULL){ printf("%d ",node->data); node = node->next; } printf("\n"); }


Code for Implementing Single Linked List in C
#include<stdio.h> #include<stdlib.h> struct Node { int data; struct Node *next; }; void deleteStart (struct Node **head) { struct Node *temp = *head; // if there are no nodes in Linked List can't delete if (*head == NULL) { printf ("Linked List Empty, nothing to delete"); return; } // move head to next node *head = (*head)->next; printf ("\n%d deleted\n", temp->data); free (temp); } void insertStart (struct Node **head, int data) { // dynamically create memory for this newNode struct Node *newNode = (struct Node *) malloc (sizeof (struct Node)); // assign data value newNode->data = data; // change the next node of this newNode // to current head of Linked List newNode->next = *head; //re-assign head to this newNode *head = newNode; printf ("\n%d Inserted\n", newNode->data); } void display (struct Node *node) { printf ("\nLinked List: "); // as linked list will end when Node is Null while (node != NULL) { printf ("%d ", node->data); node = node->next; } printf ("\n"); } int main () { struct Node *head = NULL; // Need '&' i.e. address as we need to change head insertStart (&head, 100); insertStart (&head, 80); insertStart (&head, 60); insertStart (&head, 40); insertStart (&head, 20); // No Need for '&' as not changing head in display operation display (head); deleteStart (&head); deleteStart (&head); display (head); return 0; }
Output
100 Inserted 80 Inserted 60 Inserted 40 Inserted 20 Inserted Linked List: 20 40 60 80 100 20 deleted 40 deleted Linked List: 60 80 100


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Click Here - Linked List in –
- Singly Linked List in –
- Insertion in singly Linked List –
- Insertion at beginning in singly Linked List –
- Insertion at nth position in singly Linked List –
- Insertion at end in singly Linked List –
- Deletion in singly Linked List –
- Deletion from beginning in singly linked list :
- Deletion from nth position in singly linked list :
- Deletion from end in singly linked list :
- Linked List Insertion and Deletion –
C | C++ | Java - Reverse a linked list without changing links between nodes (Data reverse only) –
C | C++ | Java - Reverse a linked list by changing links between nodes –
- Print reverse of a linked list without actually reversing –
- Print reverse of a linked list without actually reversing –
- Insertion in the middle Singly Linked List –
- Insertion in a Sorted Linked List –
- Delete alternate nodes of a Linked List –
- Find middle of the linked list –
- Reverse a linked list in groups of given size –
- Find kth node from end of the linked list –
- Append the last n nodes of a linked list to the beginning of the list –
- Check whether linked list is palindrome or not –
- Fold a Linked List –
- Insert at given Position –
- Deletion at given Position –
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