Data Structures

Topic: Header Linked List

By
Ravi Kant Sahu
Asst. Professor

Lovely Professional University, Punjab

 Outlines
• Introduction
• Header Linked List
• Advantages of Header Linked List
• Types of Header Linked List
• Review Questions

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Header Linked List
 A header linked list which always contains a special
node, called the header node, at the beginning of the
list.

START
Ø

HEADER NODE

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Header Linked List

Name Salary LINK

2 0
START 1
5 59,000 6
2
E 10000 9
3
10 C 4000 7
AVAIL 4
8
5
B 20000 4
6
D 13000 3
7
1
8
F 12000 2
9
5
10
Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Advantages of Header Linked List
• Header linked list contains a special node at the top.

• This header node need not represent the same type of data that
succeeding nodes do.

• It can have data like, number of nodes, any other data...

• Header node can access the data of all the nodes in the linked
list.

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Types of Header Linked List
 A Grounded header list is a header list where the last node
contains the null pointer.

 A Circular header list is a header list where the last node

points back to the header node.

Note:
• Unless otherwise stated or implied, header list will always be circular
list.
• Accordingly, in such a case, the header node also acts as a sentinel
indicating the end of the list.

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
START
Ø

HEADER NODE

Grounded Header List

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
START

HEADER NODE

Circular Header List

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
• If Link [START] = NULL,
then, Grounded Header List is Empty.

• If Link [START] = START,

then, Circular Header List is Empty.

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Traversing a Circuar Header List
 Algorithm (Traversing a Circular Header list)

1. Set PTR = LINK [START]. [Initialize pointer PTR]

2. Repeat step 3 and 4 while PTR ≠ START.
3. Apply PROCESS to INFO[PTR].
4. Set PTR = LINK [PTR]. [PTR points to next node]
[End of Step 2 Loop.]
5. EXIT

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Use of Header Linked List
• Header Linked lists are frequently used for maintaining
Polynomials in memory.

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)
 Review Questions
• What is Header Node?

• How a Linked List is different from Header linked list?

• What is Grounded Header list and circular header list?

Ravi Kant Sahu, Asst. Professor @ Lovely Professional University, Punjab (India)