C++ - Linked List Traversal

Traversing through a linked list is very easy. It requires creating a temp node pointing to the head of the list. If the temp node is not null, display its content and move to the next node using temp next. Repeat the process till the temp node becomes null. If the temp node is empty at the start, then the list contains no item.

The function PrintList is created for this purpose. It is a 3-step process.

void PrintList() {
  
  //1. create a temp node pointing to head
  Node* temp = head;
  
  //2. if the temp node is not null continue 
  //   displaying the content and move to the 
  //   next node till the temp becomes null
  if(temp != NULL) {
    cout<<"The list contains: ";
    while(temp != NULL) {
      cout<<temp->data<<" ";
      temp = temp->next;
    }
    cout<<endl;
  } else {
    
    //3. If the temp node is null at the start, 
    //   the list is empty
    cout<<"The list is empty.\n";
  }
}

The below is a complete program that uses above discussed concept to traverse through the linked list and displaying its content.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

//node structure
struct Node {
    int data;
    Node* next;
};

class LinkedList {
  private:
    Node* head;
  public:
    LinkedList(){
      head = NULL;
    }
 
    //Add new element at the end of the list
    void push_back(int newElement) {
      Node* newNode = new Node();
      newNode->data = newElement;
      newNode->next = NULL; 
      if(head == NULL) {
        head = newNode;
      } else {
        Node* temp = head;
        while(temp->next != NULL)
          temp = temp->next;
        temp->next = newNode;
      }    
    }

    //display the content of the list
    void PrintList() {
      Node* temp = head;
      if(temp != NULL) {
        cout<<"The list contains: ";
        while(temp != NULL) {
          cout<<temp->data<<" ";
          temp = temp->next;
        }
        cout<<endl;
      } else {
        cout<<"The list is empty.\n";
      }
    }    
};

// test the code 
int main() {
  LinkedList MyList;

  //Add three elements at the end of the list.
  MyList.push_back(10);
  MyList.push_back(20);
  MyList.push_back(30);

  //traverse to display the content of the list.
  MyList.PrintList();
  
  return 0; 
}

The above code will give the following output:

The list contains: 10 20 30