 Next − Each link of a linked list contains a link to the next link called Next.

 LinkedList − A Linked List contains the connection link to the first link called
First.

Linked List Representation

Linked list can be visualized as a chain of nodes, where every node points to the
next node.

As per the above illustration, following are the important points to be considered.
 Linked List contains a link element called first.
 Each link carries a data field(s) and a link field called next.
 Each link is linked with its next link using its next link.
 Last link carries a link as null to mark the end of the list.

Types of Linked List

Following are the various types of linked list.
 Simple Linked List − Item navigation is forward only.
 Doubly Linked List − Items can be navigated forward and backward.
 Circular Linked List − Last item contains link of the first element as next and
the first element has a link to the last element as previous.

Basic Operations
Following are the basic operations supported by a list.
 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.

Insertion Operation
Adding a new node in linked list is a more than one step activity. We shall learn this
with diagrams here. First, create a node using the same structure and find the
location where it has to be inserted.
Imagine that we are inserting a node B (NewNode), between A (LeftNode)
and C (RightNode). Then point B.next to C −
NewNode.next −> RightNode;
It should look like this −

Now, the next node at the left should point to the new node.
LeftNode.next −> NewNode;

What is Single Linked List?

Simply a list is a sequence of data, and the linked list is a sequence of data linked with each
other.
The formal definition of a single linked list is as follows...

Single linked list is a sequence of elements in which every element has link to its next
element in the sequence.
In any single linked list, the individual element is called as "Node". Every "Node" contains two
fields, data field, and the next field. The data field is used to store actual value of the node and
next field is used to store the address of next node in the sequence.
The graphical representation of a node in a single linked list is as follows...
Example

Operations on Single Linked List

The following operations are performed on a Single Linked List

 Insertion
 Deletion
 Display

Before we implement actual operations, first we need to set up an empty list. First, perform the
following steps before implementing actual operations.

 Step 1 - Include all the header files which are used in the program.
 Step 2 - Declare all the user defined functions.
 Step 3 - Define a Node structure with two members data and next
 Step 4 - Define a Node pointer 'head' and set it to NULL.
 Step 5 - Implement the main method by displaying operations menu and make suitable
function calls in the main method to perform user selected operation.

Insertion
In a single linked list, the insertion operation can be performed in three ways. They are 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 single 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, set newNode→next = NULL and head = newNode.
 Step 4 - If it is Not Empty then, set newNode→next = head and head = newNode.
Inserting At End of the list
We can use the following steps to insert a new node at end of the single 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, set head = newNode.
 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 - Set temp → next = newNode.

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 single 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, set newNode → next = NULL and head = newNode.
 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 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 temp is reached to last node or not. If it is reached to
last node then display 'Given node is not found in the list!!! Insertion not
possible!!!' and terminate the function. Otherwise move the temp to next node.
 Step 7 - Finally, Set 'newNode → next = temp → next' and 'temp → next = newNode'

Deletion
In a single linked list, the deletion operation can be performed in three ways. They are 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 single 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 → next == NULL)
 Step 5 - If it is TRUE then set head = NULL and delete temp (Setting Empty list
conditions)
 Step 6 - If it is FALSE then set head = temp → next, and delete temp.
Deleting from End of the list
We can use the following steps to delete a node from end of the single 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 two Node pointers 'temp1' and 'temp2' and
initialize 'temp1' with head.
 Step 4 - Check whether list has only one Node (temp1 → next == NULL)
 Step 5 - If it is TRUE. Then, set head = NULL and delete temp1. And terminate the
function. (Setting Empty list condition)
 Step 6 - If it is FALSE. Then, set 'temp2 = temp1 ' and move temp1 to its next node.
Repeat the same until it reaches to the last node in the list. (until temp1 →
next == NULL)
 Step 7 - Finally, Set temp2 → next = NULL and delete temp1.

Deleting a Specific Node from the list

We can use the following steps to delete a specific node from the single 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 two Node pointers 'temp1' and 'temp2' and
initialize 'temp1' with head.
 Step 4 - Keep moving the temp1 until it reaches to the exact node to be deleted or to the
last node. And every time set 'temp2 = temp1' before moving the 'temp1' to its next
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 function.
 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 to be deleted, then
set head = NULL and delete temp1 (free(temp1)).
 Step 8 - If list contains multiple nodes, then check whether temp1 is the first node in the
list (temp1 == head).
 Step 9 - If temp1 is the first node then move the head to the next node (head = head →
next) and delete temp1.
 Step 10 - If temp1 is not first node then check whether it is last node in the list (temp1 →
next == NULL).
 Step 11 - If temp1 is last node then set temp2 → next = NULL and
delete temp1 (free(temp1)).
 Step 12 - If temp1 is not first node and not last node then set temp2 → next = temp1 →
next and delete temp1 (free(temp1)).

Displaying a Single Linked List

We can use the following steps to display the elements of a single 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 with an arrow (--->) until temp reaches to the last
node
  Step 5 - Finally display temp → data with arrow pointing to NULL (temp → data --->
NULL).

Linked stack and Queue:

Linked stack
Instead of using array, we can also use linked list to implement stack. Linked list
allocates the memory dynamically. However, time complexity in both the scenario is
same for all the operations i.e. push, pop and peek.

In linked list implementation of stack, the nodes are maintained non-contiguously in

the memory. Each node contains a pointer to its immediate successor node in the
stack. Stack is said to be overflow if the space left in the memory heap is not enough
to create a node.

The top most node in the stack always contains null in its address field. Lets discuss
the way in which, each operation is performed in linked list implementation of stack.

Adding a node to the stack (Push operation)

Adding a node to the stack is referred to as push operation. Pushing an element to a
stack in linked list implementation is different from that of an array implementation.
In order to push an element onto the stack, the following steps are involved. OOPs
Concepts in Java

1. Create a node first and allocate memory to it.

2. If the list is empty then the item is to be pushed as the start node of the list. This
includes assigning value to the data part of the node and assign null to the address
part of the node.
3. If there are some nodes in the list already, then we have to add the new element in
the beginning of the list (to not violate the property of the stack). For this purpose,
assign the address of the starting element to the address field of the new node and
make the new node, the starting node of the list.

Deleting a node from the stack (POP operation)

Deleting a node from the top of stack is referred to as pop operation.
Deleting a node from the linked list implementation of stack is different from
that in the array implementation. In order to pop an element from the stack,
we need to follow the following steps :

1. Check for the underflow condition: The underflow condition occurs when
we try to pop from an already empty stack. The stack will be empty if the
head pointer of the list points to null.
2. Adjust the head pointer accordingly: In stack, the elements are popped
only from one end, therefore, the value stored in the head pointer must be
deleted and the node must be freed. The next node of the head node now
becomes the head node.