Why double linked list is called Two Way list?

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Doubly linked list

Doubly linked list is a complex type of linked list in which a node contains a pointer to the previous as well as the next node in the sequence. Therefore, in a doubly linked list, a node consists of three parts: node data, pointer to the next node in sequence (next pointer) , pointer to the previous node (previous pointer). A sample node in a doubly linked list is shown in the figure.


Why double linked list is called Two Way list?

A doubly linked list containing three nodes having numbers from 1 to 3 in their data part, is shown in the following image.


Why double linked list is called Two Way list?

In C, structure of a node in doubly linked list can be given as :

The prev part of the first node and the next part of the last node will always contain null indicating end in each direction.

In a singly linked list, we could traverse only in one direction, because each node contains address of the next node and it doesn't have any record of its previous nodes. However, doubly linked list overcome this limitation of singly linked list. Due to the fact that, each node of the list contains the address of its previous node, we can find all the details about the previous node as well by using the previous address stored inside the previous part of each node.

Memory Representation of a doubly linked list

Memory Representation of a doubly linked list is shown in the following image. Generally, doubly linked list consumes more space for every node and therefore, causes more expansive basic operations such as insertion and deletion. However, we can easily manipulate the elements of the list since the list maintains pointers in both the directions (forward and backward).

In the following image, the first element of the list that is i.e. 13 stored at address 1. The head pointer points to the starting address 1. Since this is the first element being added to the list therefore the prev of the list contains null. The next node of the list resides at address 4 therefore the first node contains 4 in its next pointer.

We can traverse the list in this way until we find any node containing null or -1 in its next part.


Why double linked list is called Two Way list?

Operations on doubly linked list

Node Creation

All the remaining operations regarding doubly linked list are described in the following table.

SNOperationDescription
1Insertion at beginningAdding the node into the linked list at beginning.
2Insertion at endAdding the node into the linked list to the end.
3Insertion after specified nodeAdding the node into the linked list after the specified node.
4Deletion at beginningRemoving the node from beginning of the list
5Deletion at the endRemoving the node from end of the list.
6Deletion of the node having given dataRemoving the node which is present just after the node containing the given data.
7SearchingComparing each node data with the item to be searched and return the location of the item in the list if the item found else return null.
8TraversingVisiting each node of the list at least once in order to perform some specific operation like searching, sorting, display, etc.

Output

*********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 8 printing values... *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 1 Enter Item value12 Node inserted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 1 Enter Item value123 Node inserted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 1 Enter Item value1234 Node inserted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 8 printing values... 1234 123 12 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 2 Enter value89 node inserted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 3 Enter the location1 Enter value12345 node inserted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 8 printing values... 1234 123 12345 12 89 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 4 node deleted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 5 node deleted *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 8 printing values... 123 12345 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 6 Enter the data after which the node is to be deleted : 123 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 8 printing values... 123 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 7 Enter item which you want to search? 123 item found at location 1 *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 6 Enter the data after which the node is to be deleted : 123 Can't delete *********Main Menu********* Choose one option from the following list ... =============================================== 1.Insert in begining 2.Insert at last 3.Insert at any random location 4.Delete from Beginning 5.Delete from last 6.Delete the node after the given data 7.Search 8.Show 9.Exit Enter your choice? 9 Exited..

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