Circular Linked List

The circular linked list is a linked list where all nodes are connected to form a circle. In a circular linked list, the first node and the last node are connected to each other which forms a circle. There is no NULL at the end.

In a circular Singly linked list, the last node of the list contains a pointer to the first node of the list. We can have circular singly linked list as well as circular doubly linked list.

• We traverse a circular singly linked list until we reach the same node where we started.
• The circular singly liked list has no beginning and no ending.
• There is no null value present in the next part of any of the nodes.
• The following image shows a circular singly linked list.

Operations on Circular Singly linked list:

Insertion

Deletion & Traversing

Advantages of Circular Linked List

• Any node can be a starting point. We can traverse the whole list by starting from any point.
• Useful for implementation of queue.
• Circular lists are useful in applications to repeatedly go around the list.

Disadvantages of circular linked list:

• Compared to singly linked lists, circular lists are more complex.
• Reversing a circular list is more complicated than singly or doubly reversing a circular list.
• It is possible for the code to go into an infinite loop if it is not handled carefully.
• It is harder to find the end of the list and control the loop.

Applications of circular linked lists:

• Multiplayer games use this to give each player a chance to play.
• Circular linked lists can be used in resource allocation problems.
• Circular linked lists are commonly used to implement circular buffers,
• Circular linked lists can be used in simulation and gaming.