Doubly and Circular Linked Lists

📘 Data Structure and Algorithm 👁 205 views 📅 Nov 05, 2025

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Doubly and Circular Linked Lists

Doubly Linked Lists are linked lists in which each node contains two pointers: one pointing to the next node and one to the previous node. Circular Linked Lists connect the last node back to the first node.

Doubly Linked List Structure

struct Node {
    int data;
    Node* prev;
    Node* next;
};

Advantages of Doubly Linked Lists

Bidirectional traversal.
Easy deletion of a given node without traversal from head.

Disadvantages

Extra memory for an additional pointer.
More complex insertion and deletion operations.

Circular Linked List

In a circular linked list, the last node points to the first node instead of NULL. It can be singly or doubly linked.

Advantages:

Can traverse entire list from any node.
Useful in implementing circular buffers and task scheduling.

Applications

Music playlist management.
CPU process scheduling (round-robin).
Navigation systems.

Conclusion

Doubly and circular linked lists provide more flexibility in traversal and structure compared to singly linked lists, making them valuable in many advanced data management scenarios.

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