How to delete an element in a linked list ?

  • To delete a node from linked list, we need to do following steps:
    • Find previous node of the node to be deleted.
    • Change the next of previous node.
    • Free memory for the node to be deleted

Example

Input: position = 1, Linked List = 9->2->3->7->6
Output: Linked List = 9->3->7->6

Input: position = 0, Linked List = 9->2->3->7->6
Output: Linked List = 2->3->7->6

Sample code

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

// A linked list node
struct Node
{
int data;
struct Node *next;
};

/* Given a reference (pointer to pointer) to the head of a list
and an int, inserts a new node on the front of the list. */
void push(struct Node** head_ref, int new_data)
{
struct Node* new_node = (struct Node*) malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
new_node->data = new_data;
new_node->next = (*head_ref);
(*head_ref) = new_node;
}

/* Given a reference (pointer to pointer) to the head of a list
and a position, deletes the node at the given position */
void deleteNode(struct Node **head_ref, int position)
{
// If linked list is empty
if (*head_ref == NULL)
return;

// Store head node
struct Node* temp = *head_ref;

// If head needs to be removed
if (position == 0)
{
*head_ref = temp->next; // Change head
free(temp); // free old head
return;
}

// Find previous node of the node to be deleted
for (int i=0; temp!=NULL && i<position-1; i++)
temp = temp->next;

// If position is more than number of ndoes
if (temp == NULL || temp->next == NULL)
return;

// Node temp->next is the node to be deleted
// Store pointer to the next of node to be deleted
struct Node *next = temp->next->next;

// Unlink the node from linked list
free(temp->next); // Free memory

temp->next = next; // Unlink the deleted node from list
}

// This function prints contents of linked list starting from
// the given node
void printList(struct Node *node)
{
while (node != NULL)
{
printf(" %d ", node->data);
node = node->next;
}
}

/* Drier program to test above functions*/
int main()
{
/* Start with the empty list */
struct Node* head = NULL;

push(&head, 6);
push(&head, 7);
push(&head, 3);
push(&head, 2);
push(&head, 9);

puts("Created Linked List: ");
printList(head);
deleteNode(&head, 4);
puts("\nLinked List after Deletion at position 4: ");
printList(head);
return 0;
}

Output:

Created Linked List: 
9 2 3 7 6
Linked List after Deletion at position 4:
9 2 3 7

Categorized in:

Tagged in:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,