Traversing in Linked list | Data structures

we can traverse in a linked list using the links of every node. as we know the single linked list is made up of a node where each node has two parts. one is the info part and the other one link part.

Info part of the list

The info part contains the actual data to be stored on the list.

Linked part of the list

link is a reference to the next value of the list.



in a single linked list, we maintain a reference point to the first value of the linked list and we named it to start variable.

it's the identity of the list and with the only help of the start variable, we can access the whole list following the links of each node.

if a node contains no value or None. this means the linked list ended up there. in the above image. the linked part of the node that contains the value None is the last node of the list.

and for an empty linked list, the start variable contains the value None.

Traversing into list

Traversing means we can visit each node in a list at a single time.

to traverse into a list we need to know how we can move forward using the link of the list. suppose we have a reference to the node as you see in the image.


so we write

 p = p.link

so this refers to the next node of the list as you see in the image.


Now to traverse into the linked list we need to refer to the first node of the list as you see in the image.



so we point the variable p to the first node of the list using the code.

  self.start = None

now using this code we can traverse the whole list.

def display_list(self):
    if self.start is None:
        print("List is empty")
        return    else:
        print("List is :   ")
        p = self.start
        while p is not None:
            print(p.info, " ", end=' ')
            p = p.link
        print()

Python program for traversing in the linked list

class Node:

    def __init__(self, value):
        self.info = value
        self.link = None

class SingleLinkedList:

    def __init__(self):
        self.start = None
    def display_list(self):
        if self.start is None:
            print("List is empty")
            return        else:
            print("List is :   ")
            p = self.start
            while p is not None:
                print(p.info, " ", end=' ')
                p = p.link
            print()

    def count_nodes(self):
        p = self.start
        n = 0        while p is not None:
            n += 1            p = p.link
        print("Number of nodes in the list = ", n)

    def search(self):
        position = 1        p = self.start
        while p is not None:
            if p.info == x:
                print(x, " is at position ", position)
                return True            position += 1            p = p.link
        else:
            print(x, " not found in list")
            return False
    def insert_in_beginning(self, data):
        temp = Node(data)
        temp.link = self.start
        self.start = temp

    def insert_at_end(self, data):
        temp = Node(data)
        if self.start is None:
            self.start = temp
            return
        p = self.start
        while p.link is not None:
            p = p.link
        p.link = temp

    def create_list(self):
        n = int(input("Enter the number of nodes  :  "))
        if n == 0:
            return        for i in range(n):
            data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
            self.insert_at_end(data)

    def insert_after(self, data, x):
        p = self.start
        while p is not None:
            if p.info == x:
                break            p = p.link

        if p is None:
            print(x, "not present in the list")
        else:
            temp = Node(data)
            temp.link = p.link
            p.link = temp

    def insert_before(self, data, x):
        # If list is empty        if self.start is None:
            print("List is empty")
            return
        if x == self.start.info:
            temp = Node(data)
            temp.link = self.start
            self.start = temp
            return

        p = self.start
        while p.link is not None:
            if p.link.info == x:
                break            p = p.link

        if p.link is None:
            print(x, " not present in the list")
        else:
            temp = Node(data)
            temp.link = p.link
            p.link = temp

    def insert_at_position(self, data, k):
        if k == 1:
            temp = Node(data)
            temp.link = self.start
            self.start = temp
            return
        p = self.start
        i = 1        while i < k - 1 and p is not None:
            p = p.link
            i += 1
        if p is None:
            print("You can insert only upto position", i)
        else:
            temp = Node(data)
            temp.link = p.link
            p.link = temp

    def delete_node(self, x):

        if self.start is None:
            print("List is empty")

        if self.start.info == x:
            self.start = self.start.link
            return
        p = self.start
        while p.link is not None:
            if p.link.info == x:
                break            p = p.link

        if p.link is None:
            print("Element ", x , "not in list")
        else:
            p.link = p.link.link

    def delete_first_node(self):
        if self.start is None:
            return        self.start = self.start.link

    def delete_last_node(self):

        if self.start is None:
            return
        if self.start.link is None:
            self.start = None            return
        p = self.start
        while p.link.link is not None:
            p = p.link
        p.link = None
    def reverse_list(self):

        prev = None        p = self.start
        while p is not None:
            next = p.link
            p.link = prev
            prev = p
            p = next
        self.start = prev


    def bubble_sort_exdata(self):

        end = None
        while end != self.start.link:
            p = self.start
            while p.link != end:
                q = p.link
                if p.info > q.info:
                    p.info, q.info = q.info, p.info
                p = p.link
            end = p

    def bubble_sort_exlinks(self):

        end = None
        while end != self.start.link:
            r = p = self.start
            while p.link != end:
                q = p.link
                if p.info > q.info :
                    p.link = q.link
                    q.link = p
                    if p != self.start:
                        r.link = q
                    else:
                        self.start = q
                    p,q = q,p
                r = p
                p = p.link
            end = p

    def has_cycle(self):
        if self.find_cycle() is None:
            return False        else:
            return True
    def find_cycle(self):
        if self.start is None or self.start.link is None:
            return None
        slowR = self.start
        fastR = self.start

        while fastR is not None and fastR.link is not None:
            slowR = slowR.link
            fastR = fastR.link.link
            if slowR == fastR:
                return slowR
        return None
    def remove_cycle(self):
        c = self.find_cycle()
        if c is None:
            return        print("Node at which the cycle was detected is ", c.info)

        p = c
        q = c
        len_cycle = 0
        while True:
            len_cycle+=1            q = q.link
            if p == q:
                break        print("Length of cycle is :", len_cycle)

        len_rem_list = 0        p = self.start
        while p != q:
            len_rem_list+=1            p = p.link
            q = q.link

        print("Number of nodes not included in the cycle are : ", len_rem_list)
        length_list = len_cycle + len_rem_list
        print("Length of the list is : ", length_list)

        p = self.start
        for i in range(length_list-1):
            p = p.link
        p.link = None

    def insert_cycle(self, x):
        if self.start is None:
            return        p = self.start
        px = None        prev = None
        while p is not None:
            if p.info == x:
                px = p
            prev = p
            p = p.link

        if px is not None:
            prev.link = px
        else:
            print(x, " not present in list")

    def merge2(self, list2):
        merge_list = SingleLinkedList()
        merge_list.start = self._merge2(self.start, list2.start)
        return merge_list

    def _merge2(self, p1, p2):
        if p1.info <= p2.info:
            startM = p1
            p1 = p1.link
        else:
            startM = p2
            p2 = p2.link
        pM = startM

        while p1 is not None and p2 is not None:
            if p1.info <= p2.info:
                pM.link = p1
                pM = pM.link
                p1 = p1.link
            else:
                pM.link = p2
                pM = pM.link
                p2 = p2.link

        if p1 is None:
            pM.link = p2
        else:
            pM.link = p1

        return startM

    def merge_sort(self):
        self.start = self._merge_sort_rec(self.start)

    def _merge_sort_rec(self, list_start):

        if list_start is None or list_start.link is None:
            return list_start

        start1 = list_start
        start2 = self._divide_list(list_start)
        start1 = self._merge_sort_rec(start1)
        start2 = self._merge_sort_rec(start2)
        startM = self._merge2(start1, start2)

        return startM

    def _divide_list(self, p):
        q = p.link.link
        while q is not None and q.link is not None:
            p = p.link
            q = q.link.link
        start2 = p.link
        p.link = None        return start2


##########################

list = SingleLinkedList()

list.create_list()

while True:
    print("1. Display list")
    print("2. Count the number of nodes")
    print("3. Search for an element")
    print("4. Insert in empty list/insert in beginning of the list")
    print("5. Insert a node at the end of the list")
    print("6. Insert a node after a specified node")
    print("7. Insert a node before a specified node")
    print("8. Insert a node at a given position")
    print("9. Delete first node")
    print("10. Delete last node")
    print("11. Delete any node")
    print("12. Reverse the list")
    print("13. Bubble sort by exchanging data")
    print("14. Bubble sort by exchanging links")
    print("15. Merge sort")
    print("16. Insert Cycle")
    print("17. Detect Cycle")
    print("18. Remove Cycle")
    print("19. Quite")

    option = int(input("Enter your choice"))

    if option == 1:
        list.display_list()
    elif option == 2:
        list.count_nodes()
    elif option == 3:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be searched : "))
        list.search(data)
    elif option == 4:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
        list.insert_in_beginning(data)
    elif option == 5:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
        list.insert_at_end(data)
    elif option == 6:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
        x = int(input("Enter the element after which to insert : "))
        list.insert_after(data, x)
    elif option == 7:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
        x = int(input("Enter the element before which to insert : "))
        list.insert_before(data, x)
    elif option == 8:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be inserted : "))
        k = int(input("Enter the position at which to insert : "))
        list.insert_at_position(data, k)
    elif option == 9:
        list.delete_first_node()
    elif option == 10:
        list.delete_last_node()
    elif option == 11:
        data = int(input("Enter the element to be deleted : "))
        list.delete_node(data)
    elif option == 12:
        list.reverse_list()
    elif option == 13:
        list.bubble_sort_exdata()
    elif option == 14:
        list.bubble_sort_exlinks()
    elif option == 15:
        list.merge_sort()
    elif option == 16:
        data = int(input("Enter the element at which the cycle has to be inserted : "))
        list.insert_cycle(data)
    elif option == 17:
        if list.has_cycle():
            print("List has a cycle")
        else:
            print("List does not have a cycle")
    elif option == 18:
        list.remove_cycle()
    elif option == 19:
        break    else:
        print("Wrong option")
    print()

Download program

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