CODEWITHSUNDEEP
crecursionlinked-listdynamic-memory-allocationfree
Noobster
Noobster

Reputation: 11

Recursive delete linked list

I'm new to programming and I'm having issues with deleting a linked list recursively.

int main(void)
{
    node *head = NULL;
    head = push_f(head);
    head = push_f(head);
    head = push_f(head);

    print(head);

    delete_l(head);
    print(head);
}

void delete_l(node *head)
{
    if (head == NULL)
    {
        return;
    }
    
    delete_l(head->next);
    free(head);
}

It however only seems to delete the last 2 nodes. enter image description here

Upvotes: 1

Views: 88

Answers (1)

Vlad from Moscow
Vlad from Moscow

Reputation: 310960

After calling the function delete_l

delete_l(head);

the pointer head in main was not changed because the function deals with a copy of the value of the pointer. So it still points to the deleted first node of the list.

The function indeed freed the allocated memory. And the next call of the function print

print(head);

just invokes undefined behavior by accessing the freed memory.

Upvotes: 1

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