What is a circular linked list?

A list with various numbers of the node containing data and address pointer and the list starts and finishes at the same first node is known as a circular linked list. this list forms a circle and has a common start and endpoint.|What is a circular linked list|

In this blog post(What is a circular linked list), we are going to see what is a circular linked list. What are the types of a linked list? What is the principle of a circular linked list? How do you check whether a linked list is circular or not?

As in the case of the linked list, we have seen that the first node is pointed by an external pointer, and in the last node, we have a null value in the field of the address. (What is a circular linked list)

We should be very careful while traversing the circular linked list as there is a chance to be stuck in an infinite loop if the end node is unable to detect it.

To avoid this situation we can set an external pointer at the starting node and now use it as the stop point or endpoint of the list.

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Circular linked list: What is a circular linked list

As an alternative method, we can make a header node to our first node and can keep a special value in the info field that will not be connected with other info data in the list,…

… or will not have any relation with another data field. We will halt traversing the circular linked list once this header node is reached.

What is a circular linked list?

It is just like a single linked list where we have the address of the first node in the last node address field. This way it turns out to be a circular linked list.

What are the types of a linked list?

Mainly there are three types of linked lists, singly-linked lists, doubly linked lists, and circular linked lists.

What is the principle of a circular linked list?

As we know in the circular linked list, the last node has the address of the first node. Both singly and doubly linked lists can be circular linked lists. The main principle of the circular linked list is to solve the time-sharing problem by the OS.

How do you check whether a linked list is circular or not?

You can check it by writing a simple function where we can match the address of the first node in the address field of the last node. If the program returns the true value then it would be a circular linked list else it is not.

What advantages of a circular linked list?

There are many advantages to using a circular linked list, a few are listed below.

It is useful for the implementation of queues.
Any node can be a starting point.
This list is best suited for the application where the process repeats and goes around.
A doubly circular linked list is used for the advanced data structure.

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Conclusion:

A circular linked list in the data structure is a list that forms a circle shape while traversing the data element using this list. This circular list has a common starting and ending point which is, in general, the very first node or header node, which may also be filled with some special data to detect it as a header node where we can stop our traversing.|What is a circular linked list|

Using this blog we have gone through What is a circular linked list? What are the types of a linked list? What is the principle of a circular linked list? How do you check whether a linked list is circular or not? What advantages of a circular linked list?

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