What Is Traversing A Singly Linked List?

Traversing a singly linked list refers to the process of visiting and accessing each node in the list, one by one, starting from the head (the first node) and continuing through the rest of the nodes until the end of the list (where the next pointer is null or None).

In a singly linked list, each node contains two components:

1. Data: The actual value or information stored in the node.
2. Next: A reference (or pointer) to the next node in the list.

When traversing a singly linked list, you typically start at the head node and repeatedly move to the next node using the next reference until you reach the end (when the next pointer is null).

Here is a basic example in pseudocode for traversing a singly linked list:

current_node = head  // Start with the head of the list

while current_node != null:
    print(current_node.data)  // Process the data of the current node
    current_node = current_node.next  // Move to the next node

Purpose of Traversing:

• Accessing each node to perform operations like printing data, searching for an element, or modifying node values.
• Searching for an element in the list by checking each node.
• Calculating length by counting the nodes in the list.

Traversal is a fundamental operation when working with linked lists since it allows you to move through all elements stored in the list sequentially.