How to reverse a singly linked list using only two

Question

I would be wondered if there exists some logic to reverse the linked list using only two pointers.

The following is used to reverse the single linked list using three pointers namely p, q, r:

struct node
{
    int data;
    struct node *link;
};

void reverse()
{
    struct node *p = first,
                *q = NULL,
                *r;
    while (p != NULL)
    {
        r = q;
        q = p;
        p = p->link;
        q->link = r;
    }
    q = first;
}

Is there any other alternate to reverse the linked list? what would be the best logic to reverse a singly linked list, in terms of time complexity?

Answer 1

Yes there is a way using only two pointers. That is by creating new linked list where the first node is the first node of the given list and second node of the first list is added at the start of the new list and so on.

Answer 2

Using two pointers while maintaining time complexity of O(n), the fastest achievable, might only be possible through number casting of pointers and swapping their values. Here is an implementation:

#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct node
{
    int num;
    struct node* next;
}node;

void reverse(node* head)
{
   node* ptr;
   if(!head || !head->next || !head->next->next) return;
   ptr = head->next->next;
   head->next->next = NULL;
   while(ptr)
   {
     /* Swap head->next and ptr. */
     head->next = (unsigned)(ptr =\
     (unsigned)ptr ^ (unsigned)(head->next =\
     (unsigned)head->next ^ (unsigned)ptr)) ^ (unsigned)head->next;

     /* Swap head->next->next and ptr. */
     head->next->next = (unsigned)(ptr =\
     (unsigned)ptr ^ (unsigned)(head->next->next =\
     (unsigned)head->next->next ^ (unsigned)ptr)) ^ (unsigned)head->next->next;
   }
}

void add_end(node* ptr, int n)
{
    while(ptr->next) ptr = ptr->next;
    ptr->next = malloc(sizeof(node));
    ptr->next->num = n;
    ptr->next->next = NULL;
}

void print(node* ptr)
{
    while(ptr = ptr->next) printf("%d ", ptr->num);
    putchar('\n');
}

void erase(node* ptr)
{
    node *end;
    while(ptr->next)
    {
        if(ptr->next->next) ptr = ptr->next;
        else
        {
            end = ptr->next;
            ptr->next = NULL;
            free(end);
        }
    }
}

void main()
{
    int i, n = 5;
    node* dummy_head;
    dummy_head->next = NULL;
    for(i = 1; i <= n ; ++i) add_end(dummy_head, i);
    print(dummy_head);
    reverse(dummy_head);
    print(dummy_head);
    erase(dummy_head);
}

Answer 3

Here is a slightly different, but simple approach in C++11:

#include <iostream>

struct Node{
    Node(): next(NULL){}
    Node *next;
    std::string data;
};

void printlist(Node* l){
    while(l){
        std::cout<<l->data<<std::endl;
        l = l->next;
    }
    std::cout<<"----"<<std::endl;
}

void reverse(Node*& l)
{
    Node* prev = NULL;
    while(l){
        auto next = l->next;
        l->next = prev;
        prev=l;
        l=next;
    }
    l = prev;
}

int main() {
    Node s,t,u,v;
    s.data = "1";
    t.data = "2";
    u.data = "3";
    v.data = "4";
    s.next = &t;
    t.next = &u;
    u.next = &v;
    Node* ptr = &s;
    printlist(ptr);
    reverse(ptr);
    printlist(ptr);
    return 0;
}

Output here

Answer 4

To swap two variables without the use of a temporary variable,

a = a xor b
b = a xor b
a = a xor b

fastest way is to write it in one line

a = a ^ b ^ (b=a)

Similarly,

using two swaps

swap(a,b)
swap(b,c)

solution using xor

a = a^b^c
b = a^b^c
c = a^b^c
a = a^b^c

solution in one line

c = a ^ b ^ c ^ (a=b) ^ (b=c)
b = a ^ b ^ c ^ (c=a) ^ (a=b)
a = a ^ b ^ c ^ (b=c) ^ (c=a)

The same logic is used to reverse a linked list.

typedef struct List
{
 int info;
 struct List *next;
}List;


List* reverseList(List *head)
{
 p=head;
 q=p->next;
 p->next=NULL;
 while(q)
 {
    q = (List*) ((int)p ^ (int)q ^ (int)q->next ^ (int)(q->next=p) ^ (int)(p=q));
 }
 head = p;
 return head;
}  

Answer 5

here is a little simple solution...

void reverse()
{
    node * pointer1 = head->next;
    if(pointer1 != NULL)
    {
        node *pointer2 = pointer1->next;
        pointer1->next = head;
        head->next = NULL;
        head = pointer1;

        if(pointer2 != NULL)
        {

            while(pointer2 != NULL)
            {
                pointer1 = pointer2;
                pointer2 = pointer2->next;
                pointer1->next = head;
                head = pointer1;
            }

            pointer1->next = head;
            head = pointer1;
        }       
   }
 }

Answer 6

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think your three-pointer solution actually works. When I used it in the following test harness, the list was reduced to one node, as per the following output:

==========
4
3
2
1
0
==========
4
==========

You won't get better time complexity than your solution since it's O(n) and you have to visit every node to change the pointers, but you can do a solution with only two extra pointers quite easily, as shown in the following code:

#include <stdio.h>

// The list element type and head.

struct node { 
    int data;
    struct node *link;
};
static struct node *first = NULL;

// A reverse function which uses only two extra pointers.

void reverse() {
    // curNode traverses the list, first is reset to empty list.
    struct node *curNode = first, *nxtNode;
    first = NULL;

    // Until no more in list, insert current before first and advance.
    while (curNode != NULL) {
        // Need to save next node since we're changing the current.
        nxtNode = curNode->link;

        // Insert at start of new list.
        curNode->link = first;
        first = curNode;

        // Advance to next.
        curNode = nxtNode;
    }
}

// Code to dump the current list.

static void dumpNodes() {
    struct node *curNode = first;
    printf ("==========\n");
    while (curNode != NULL) {
        printf ("%d\n", curNode->data);
        curNode = curNode->link;
    }
}

// Test harness main program.

int main (void) {
    int i;
    struct node *newnode;

    // Create list (using actually the same insert-before-first
    // that is used in reverse function.

    for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        newnode = malloc (sizeof (struct node));
        newnode->data = i;
        newnode->link = first;
        first = newnode;
    }

    // Dump list, reverse it, then dump again.

    dumpNodes();
    reverse();
    dumpNodes();
    printf ("==========\n");

    return 0;
}

This code outputs:

==========
4
3
2
1
0
==========
0
1
2
3
4
==========

which I think is what you were after. It can actually do this since, once you've loaded up first into the pointer traversing the list, you can re-use first at will.