What is Linked List
A linked list is a linear data structure, in which the elements are not stored at contiguous memory locations. The elements in a linked list are linked using pointers
A linked list is a collection of “nodes” connected together via links. These nodes consist of the data to be stored and a pointer to the address of the next node within the linked list. In the case of arrays, the size is limited to the definition, but in linked lists, there is no defined size. Any amount of data can be stored in it and can be deleted from it.
There are three types of linked lists −
Singly Linked List − The nodes only point to the address of the next node in the list.
Doubly Linked List − The nodes point to the addresses of both previous and next nodes.
Circular Linked List − The last node in the list will point to the first node in the list. It can either be singly linked or doubly linked.
Linked List Representation
Linked list can be visualized as a chain of nodes, where every node points to the next node.
Types of Linked List
Following are the various types of linked list.
Singly Linked Lists
Singly linked lists contain two “buckets” in one node; one bucket holds the data and the other bucket holds the address of the next node of the list. Traversals can be done in one direction only as there is only a single link between two nodes of the same list.
Doubly Linked Lists
Doubly Linked Lists contain three “buckets” in one node; one bucket holds the data and the other buckets hold the addresses of the previous and next nodes in the list. The list is traversed twice as the nodes in the list are connected to each other from both sides.
Circular Linked Lists
Circular linked lists can exist in both singly linked list and doubly linked list.
Since the last node and the first node of the circular linked list are connected, the traversal in this linked list will go on forever until it is broken.
Basic Operations in the Linked Lists
The basic operations in the linked lists are insertion, deletion, searching, display, and deleting an element at a given key. These operations are performed on Singly Linked Lists as given below −
Insertion − Adds an element at the beginning of the list.
Deletion − Deletes an element at the beginning of the list.
Display − Displays the complete list.
Search − Searches an element using the given key.
Delete − Deletes an element using the given key.
