Unable to create or return Reversed Linked list - c++

Question

Here using the function returnReverseLinkedList I am returning the reversed linked list of the given linked list. But the problem with this approach is that i lose the original linked list. So I make another fucntion called createReversedLinkedList to make a copy of the original linked list and reverse the copy and maintain possession of both.
unfortunately createReversedLinkedList is giving Runtime error.
obviously my end goal is to check if the given linked list is palindrome or not. This issue is just a stepping stone.
Could someone tell me why?
//Check if a linked list is a palindrome
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class node
{
public:
int data;
node *next;
node(int data)
{
this->data = data;
this->next = NULL;
}
};
node *returnReverseLinkedList(node *head)
{
// Will Lose original Linked List
if (head == NULL)
return NULL;
else if (head != NULL && head->next == NULL)
return head;
node *prev = NULL;
node *curr = head;
node *tempNext = head->next;
while (tempNext != NULL)
{
curr->next = prev;
prev = curr;
curr = tempNext;
tempNext = tempNext->next;
}
curr->next = prev;
return curr;
}
node *createReversedLinkedList(node *head)
{
if (head == NULL)
return NULL;
else if (head != NULL && head->next == NULL)
return NULL;
else
{
node *temp = head;
node *newHead = NULL;
node *newTail = NULL;
while (temp != NULL)
{
node *newNode = new node(temp->data);
if (newHead == NULL)
{
newHead = newNode;
newTail = newNode;
}
else
{
newTail->next = newNode;
newTail = newNode;
}
}
return returnReverseLinkedList(newHead);
}
}
bool check_palindrome(node *head)
{
node *original = head;
node *reverse = returnReverseLinkedList(head);
while (original->next != NULL || reverse->next != NULL)
{
if (original->data != reverse->data)
return false;
cout << "debug 2" << endl;
original = original->next;
reverse = reverse->next;
}
return true;
}
// #include "solution.h"
node *takeinput()
{
int data;
cin >> data;
node *head = NULL, *tail = NULL;
while (data != -1)
{
node *newnode = new node(data);
if (head == NULL)
{
head = newnode;
tail = newnode;
}
else
{
tail->next = newnode;
tail = newnode;
}
cin >> data;
}
return head;
}
void print(node *head)
{
node *temp = head;
while (temp != NULL)
{
cout << temp->data << " ";
temp = temp->next;
}
cout << endl;
}
int main()
{
node *head = takeinput();
node *revese2 = createReversedLinkedList(head);
print(revese2);
// bool ans = check_palindrome(head);
// if (ans)
// cout << "true";
// else
// cout << "false";
// return 0;
}

Answer 1

As asked by the OP, building a reversed linked is simply done by building as you would a stack (e.g LIFO) rather than duplicating the same original forward chain. For example:
node *createReversedLinkedList(const node *head)
{
node *newHead = NULL;
for (; head; head = head->next)
{
node *p = new node(head->data)
p->next = newHead;
newHead = p;
}
return newHead;
}
Note we're not hanging our copied nodes on the tail of the new list; they're hanging on the head of the new list, and becoming the new head with each addition. That's it. There is no need to craft an identical list, then reverse it; you can reverse it while building the copy to begin with.
A note on the remainder of your code. You have a dreadful memory leak, even if you fix the reversal generation as I've shown above. In your check_palindrome function, you never free the dynamic reversed copy (and in fact, you can't because you discard the original pointer referring to its head after the first traversal:
bool check_palindrome(node *head)
{
node *original = head;
node *reverse = returnReverseLinkedList(head); // only reference to reversed copy
while (original->next != NULL || reverse->next != NULL)
{
if (original->data != reverse->data)
return false; // completely leaked entire reversed copy
original = original->next;
reverse = reverse->next; // lost original list head
}
return true;
}
The most obvious method for combating that dreadful leak is to remember the original list and use a different pointer to iterate, and don't leave the function until the copy is freed.
bool check_palindrome(const node *head)
{
bool result = true;
node *reverse = returnReverseLinkedList(head);
for (node *p = reverse; p; p = p->next, head = head->next)
{
if (p->data != head->data)
{
result = false;
break;
}
}
while (reverse)
{
node *tmp = reverse;
reverse = reverse->next;
delete tmp;
}
return result;
}