C Program to Search an Element in Linked List without using Recursion

This C program, using iteration, searches for an element in a linked list. A linked list is an ordered set of data elements, each containing a link to its successor.

Here is the source code of the C program to search for an element in a linked list. The C program is successfully compiled and run on a Linux system. The program output is also shown below.

  1. /*
  2.  * C Program to Search for an Element in the Linked List without 
  3.  * using Recursion
  4.  */
  5.  
  6. #include <stdio.h>
  7. #include <stdlib.h>
  8.  
  9. struct node
  10. {
  11.     int a;
  12.     struct node *next;
  13. };
  14.  
  15. void generate(struct node **, int);
  16. void search(struct node *, int);
  17. void delete(struct node **);
  18.  
  19. int main()
  20. {
  21.     struct node *head = NULL;
  22.     int key, num;
  23.  
  24.     printf("Enter the number of nodes: ");
  25.     scanf("%d", &num);
  26.     printf("\nDisplaying the list\n");
  27.     generate(&head, num);
  28.     printf("\nEnter key to search: ");
  29.     scanf("%d", &key);
  30.     search(head, key);
  31.     delete(&head);
  32.  
  33.     return 0;
  34. }
  35.  
  36. void generate(struct node **head, int num)
  37. {
  38.     int i;
  39.     struct node *temp;
  40.  
  41.     for (i = 0; i < num; i++)
  42.     {
  43.         temp = (struct node *)malloc(sizeof(struct node));
  44.         temp->a = rand() % num;
  45.         if (*head == NULL)
  46.         {
  47.             *head = temp;
  48.             temp->next = NULL;
  49.         }
  50.         else
  51.         {
  52.             temp->next = *head;
  53.             *head = temp;
  54.         }
  55.         printf("%d  ", temp->a);
  56.     }
  57. }
  58.  
  59. void search(struct node *head, int key)
  60. {
  61.     while (head != NULL)
  62.     {
  63.         if (head->a == key)
  64.         {
  65.             printf("key found\n");
  66.             return;
  67.         }
  68.         head = head->next;
  69.     }
  70.     printf("Key not found\n");
  71. }
  72.  
  73. void delete(struct node **head)
  74. {
  75.     struct node *temp;
  76.  
  77.     while (*head != NULL)
  78.     {
  79.         temp = *head;
  80.         *head = (*head)->next;
  81.         free(temp);
  82.     }
  83. }

$ gcc search_iter.c -o search_iter
$ a.out
Enter the number of nodes: 10
 
Displaying the list
3  6  7  5  3  5  6  2  9  1  
Enter key to search: 2
key found

Sanfoundry Global Education & Learning Series – 1000 C Programs.

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If you wish to look at other example programs on Linked List, go to Linked List. If you wish to look at programming examples on all topics, go to C Programming Examples.

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Manish Bhojasia, a technology veteran with 20+ years @ Cisco & Wipro, is Founder and CTO at Sanfoundry. He lives in Bangalore, and focuses on development of Linux Kernel, SAN Technologies, Advanced C, Data Structures & Alogrithms. Stay connected with him at LinkedIn.

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