Implementation of LinkedList in Javascript

In this article, we will be implementing LinkedList data structure in Javascript. LinkedList is the dynamic data structure, as we can add or remove elements at ease, and it can even grow as needed. Just like arrays, linked lists store elements sequentially, but don’t store the elements contiguously like an array.
Now, Lets see an example of a Linked List Node:

As in the above code we define a class Node having two properties: element and next. Element holds the data of a node while next holds the pointer to the next node, which is initialized to the null value.
Now, lets see an implementation of Linked List class:

The above example shows a Linked List class with a constructor and list of methods to be implemented. Linked List class has two properties: i.e. head and size, where head stores the first node of a List, and size indicates the number of nodes in a list.
Let’s implement each of these functions:

1. add(element) – It adds an element at the end of list.

   // adds an element at the end // of list add(element) {     // creates a new node     var node = new Node(element);        // to store current node     var current;        // if list is Empty add the     // element and make it head     if (this.head == null)         this.head = node;     else {         current = this.head;            // iterate to the end of the         // list         while (current.next) {             current = current.next;         }            // add node         current.next = node;     }     this.size++; }

   In the order to add an element at the end of the list we consider the following :

   • If the list is empty then add an element and it will be head
   • If the list is not empty then iterate to the end of the list and add an element at the end of the list

   current is used to iterate through the list after every iteration we update it to be the next of the current node. If next is null(the last element of a list contains null in the next) then we add the element to the list.

   
   
   
2. insertAt(element, index) – It inserts an element at the given index in a list.

   // insert element at the position index // of the list insertAt(element, index) {     if (index > 0 && index > this.size)         return false;     else {         // creates a new node         var node = new Node(element);         var curr, prev;            curr = this.head;            // add the element to the         // first index         if (index == 0) {             node.next = head;             this.head = node;         } else {             curr = this.head;             var it = 0;                // iterate over the list to find             // the position to insert             while (it < index) {                 it++;                 prev = curr;                 curr = curr.next;             }                // adding an element             node.next = curr;             prev.next = node;         }         this.size++;     } }

   In order to add an element at the end of the list we consider three conditions as follows:

   • if the index is zero we add an element at the front of the list and make it head
   • If the index is the last position of the list we append the element at the end of the list
   • if the index is inbetween 0 or size – 1 we iterate over to the index and add an element at that index

   In the above method prev holds the previous of current node.

3. removeFrom(index) – It removes and returns an element from the list from the specified index

   // removes an element from the // specified location removeFrom(index) {     if (index > 0 && index > this.size)         return -1;     else {         var curr, prev, it = 0;         curr = this.head;         prev = curr;            // deleting first element         if (index == = 0) {             this.head = curr.next;         } else {             // iterate over the list to the             // position to removce an element             while (it < index) {                 it++;                 prev = curr;                 curr = curr.next;             }                // remove the element             prev.next = curr.next;         }         this.size--;            // return the remove element         return curr.element;     } }

   In order to remove an element from the list we consider three condition:

   • If the index is 0 then we remove head and make next node head of the list
   • if the index is size – 1 then we remove the last element form the list and make prev the last element
   • if its in between 0 to size – 1 we remove the element by using prev and current node
4. removeElement(element) – This method removes element from the list. It returns the removed element, or if its not found it returns -1.

   // removes a given element from the // list removeElement(element) {     var current = this.head;     var prev = null;        // iterate over the list     while (current != null) {         // comparing element with current         // element if found then remove the         // and return true         if (current.element == = element) {             if (prev == null) {                 this.head = current.next;             } else {                 prev.next = current.next;             }             this.size--;             return current.element;         }         prev = current;         current = current.next;     }     return -1; }

   The above method is just a modification of removeFrom(index), as it searches for an element and removes it, rather than removing from a specified location

Helper Methods

Lets declare some helper methods which are useful while working with LinkedList.

1. indexOf(element) – it returns the index of a given element, if the element is in the list.

   // finds the index of element indexOf(element) {     var count = 0;     var current = this.head;        // iterae over the list     while (current != null) {         // compare each element of the list         // with given element         if (current.element == = element)             return count;         count++;         current = current.next;     }        // not found     return -1; }

   In this method, we iterate over the list to find the index of an element. If it is not present in the list it returns -1 instead.

2. isEmpty() – it returns true if the list is empty.

   // checks the list for empty isEmpty() {     return this.size == 0; }

   In this method we check for the size property of the LinkedList class, and if its zero then the list is empty.

3. size_of_list() – It returns the size of list

   // gives the size of the list size_of_list() {     console.log(this.size); }

4. printList() – It prints the contents of the list.

   // prints the list items printList() {     var curr = this.head;     var str = "";     while (curr) {         str += curr.element + " ";         curr = curr.next;     }     console.log(str); }

   In this method, we iterate over the entire list and concatenate the elements of each node and print it.

Note: Different helper methods can be declared in the LinkedList class as required.

Implementation

Now lets use the LinkedList class and its different methods described above.

Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above.