Double Linked List

Double Linked List:

In a double linked list , every node has a link to its previous

node and next node. So, navigation is possible in both ways, i.e

we can traverse forward by using the next field and can traverse
backward by using the previous field. Every node in a double
linked list contains three fields as show in below figure.

Here, 'link1' field is used to store the address of the previous

node in the sequence, 'link2' field is used to store the address
of the next node in the sequence and 'data' field is used to
store the actual value of that node.

Example:

Important Points to be Remembered

1. In double linked list, the first node must be always pointed by head.
2. Always the previous field of the first node must be NULL.
3. Always the next field of the last node must be NULL.

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 Double Linked List

Operations on Double 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 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.

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 Double Linked List

Inserting At End of the list

We can use the following steps to insert a new node at end of the double
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.

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 Double Linked List

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
double 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.

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 Double Linked List

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.

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 Double Linked List

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.

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 Double Linked List

Deleting a Specific Node from the list

We can use the following steps to delete a specific node from 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 - 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)).

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 Double Linked List

Displaying a Double Linked List

We can use the following steps to display the elements of a double 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 - Keep displaying temp → data , until temp becomes NULL.

Note :

Reference Books : Taken contents and diagrams from various websites.

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