This article will help you to approach a linked list problem “Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first” This problem is discussing using illustrations, intuition, and code in C, C++, Java, and python which will make this problem easier for you to understand let us take a look to the problem statement of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first.
How to Rearrange Linked List in Alternate Last and First Place
In this problem, we are given a linked list, and we have to move the last node of the linked list to the very first and make it head or root.
Input:
Output (After moving the last element to the front of the linked list):
Let’s try to understand the problem by taking an example.
Initial Linked list = 7 → 5 → 3 → 1
- We will start with traversing the linked list from the head until we have reached the last node of the linked list.
- Once we have reached the last node of the linked list, we will make the previous node of the last node point to NULL and the next of the last node will point to the head node.
- Finally, we will make the node which we inserted at the front of the linked list the new head of the linked list.
After moving the last node to the front of the linked list, our linked list will look like:
Updated Linked list = 1 → 7 → 5 → 3.
Well, this is a very basic problem, and furthermore we will continue with the approach to solve the problem.
Approach and Algorithm of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first
The most naive idea is to traverse the list till the last node or end of the LinkedList. Use two node pointers last and secLast – last used to store the address of the last node and the secLast is used to store the address of the second last node. After the end of the loop, do the following operations.
- We have to make the second last as last (secLast->next = NULL).
- Next step is to change next of last as head (_last->next = *headref).
- The final step is to make last as the head (_*headref = last).
Dry Run of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first
Code Implementation of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
/* A linked list node */
struct Node
{
int data;
struct Node *next;
};
/* We are using a double pointer head_ref here because we change
head of the linked list inside this function.*/
void moveToFront(struct Node **head_ref)
{
/* If linked list is empty, or it contains only one node,
then nothing needs to be done, simply return */
if (*head_ref == NULL || (*head_ref)->next == NULL)
return;
/* Initialize second last and last pointers */
struct Node *secLast = NULL;
struct Node *last = *head_ref;
/*After this loop secLast contains address of second last
node and last contains address of last node in Linked List */
while (last->next != NULL)
{
secLast = last;
last = last->next;
}
/* Set the next of second last as NULL */
secLast->next = NULL;
/* Set next of last as head node */
last->next = *head_ref;
/* Change the head pointer to point to last node now */
*head_ref = last;
}
/* UTILITY FUNCTIONS */
/* Function to add a node at the beginning of Linked List */
void push(struct Node** head_ref, int new_data)
{
/* allocate node */
struct Node* new_node =
(struct Node*) malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
/* put in the data */
new_node->data = new_data;
/* link the old list off the new node */
new_node->next = (*head_ref);
/* move the head to point to the new node */
(*head_ref) = new_node;
}
/* Function to print nodes in a given linked list */
void printList(struct Node *node)
{
while(node != NULL)
{
printf("%d ", node->data);
node = node->next;
}
}
/* Driver program to test above function */
int main()
{
struct Node *start = NULL;
/* The constructed linked list is:
1->2->3->4->5 */
push(&start, 5);
push(&start, 4);
push(&start, 3);
push(&start, 2);
push(&start, 1);
printf("\n Linked list before moving last to front\n");
printList(start);
moveToFront(&start);
printf("\n Linked list after removing last to front\n");
printList(start);
return 0;
}
#include <bits stdc++.h="">
using namespace std;
class Node
{
public:
int data;
Node *next;
};
void moveToFront(Node **head_ref)
{
if (*head_ref == NULL || *head_ref->next == NULL)
return;
Node *secLast = NULL;
Node *last = *head_ref;
while (last->next != NULL)
{
secLast = last;
last = last->next;
}
secLast->next = NULL;
last->next = *head_ref;
*head_ref = last;
}
void push(Node** head_ref, int new_data)
{
Node* new_node = new Node();
new_node->data = new_data;
new_node->next = *head_ref;
*head_ref = new_node;
}
void printList(Node *node)
{
while(node != NULL)
{
cout << node->data << " ";
node = node->next;
}
}
int main()
{
Node *start = NULL;
push(&start, 1);
push(&start, 3);
push(&start, 5);
push(&start, 7);
moveToFront(&start);
printList(start);
return 0;
}
class MoveLast
{
Node head;
class Node
{
int data;
Node next;
Node(int d) {data = d; next = null; }
}
void moveToFront()
{
if(head == null || head.next == null)
return;
/* Initialize second last and last pointers */
Node secLast = null;
Node last = head;
while (last.next != null)
{
secLast = last;
last = last.next;
}
secLast.next = null;
last.next = head;
head = last;
}
void push(int new_data)
{
Node new_node = new Node(new_data);
new_node.next = head;
head = new_node;
}
void printList()
{
Node temp = head;
while(temp != null)
{
System.out.print(temp.data+" ");
temp = temp.next;
}
System.out.println();
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
MoveLast llist = new MoveLast();
llist.push(5);
llist.push(4);
llist.push(3);
llist.push(2);
llist.push(1);
System.out.println("Linked List before moving last to front ");
llist.printList();
llist.moveToFront();
System.out.println("Linked List after moving last to front ");
llist.printList();
}
}
class Node:
def __init__(self, data):
self.data = data
self.next = None
class LinkedList:
def __init__(self):
self.head = None
def push(self, data):
new_node = Node(data)
new_node.next = self.head
self.head = new_node
def printList(self):
tmp = self.head
while tmp is not None:
print(tmp.data, end=" ")
tmp = tmp.next
print()
def moveToFront(self):
tmp = self.head
sec_last = None
if not tmp or not tmp.next:
return
while tmp and tmp.next :
sec_last = tmp
tmp = tmp.next
sec_last.next = None
tmp.next = self.head
self.head = tmp
if __name__ == '__main__':
llist = LinkedList()
llist.push(1)
llist.push(3)
llist.push(5)
llist.push(7)
llist.moveToFront()
llist.printList()
Output 1 7 5 3
Time Complexity Of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first: O(n), where n is the number of nodes in the given Linked List.
Space complexity of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first: O(1), constant space complexity, as no extra space is used.
Conclusion
This article taught us how to Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first. We have discussed the approach, algorithm, Dry dun, and implementation of Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first. We hope this article will help you to understand more about linked lists. Also we will recommend you to practice out linked list questions,feel free to solve them at Linked List.
FAQs related to Rearrange linked list in alternate last and first
1. How do you reorder a linked list?
You can reorder the linked list in many ways such as slow-fast pointers, two-pointers, recursion, and many more.
2. Why do we need a dummy node in the linked list?
The dummy node is used to carry out the operations of linked list. Also we need to change the pointers within the list, therefore there is a chance to lose the actual linked list due to which we will use a dummy node.