deletion of a node in a singly linked list - c++

Question

I have made a program in c++ to delete a node in a singly linked list but it is not working as predicted. I am attaching pictures of the output for better clarity that whats misbehaving.
code:
int del_node(int val_del) //this section is producing error
{
node* temp_del=head;
if(head==nullptr)
{
cout<<"no element to delete.!";
exit(0);
}
else
{
while(temp_del->next!=nullptr)
{
if(temp_del->next->data==val_del)
{
temp_del->next=temp_del->next->next;
delete temp_del->next->next;
}
temp_del=temp_del->next;
}
}
return 0;
}
This a function of a class.
Here is the complete code if it helps:
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
struct node
{
int data;
node *next;
};
class linked_list
{
node *head,*tail;
public:
linked_list()
{
head=nullptr;
tail=nullptr;
}
int create_last(int val_last)
{
node *temp=new node; if(!temp){cout<<"memory not allocated"; exit(1);}
temp->data=val_last;
temp->next=nullptr;
if(head==nullptr)
{
head=temp;
tail=temp;
}
else
{
tail->next=temp;
tail=temp;
}
return 0;
}
int create_beg(int val_beg)
{
node *temp_head=nullptr;
node *temp=new node; if(!temp){cout<<"memory not allocated"; exit(1);}
temp->data=val_beg;
temp->next=nullptr;
if(head==nullptr)
{
head=temp;
tail=temp;
}
else
{
temp_head=head;
head=temp;
temp->next=temp_head;
}
return 0;
}
int del_node(int val_del) //this section is producing error
{
node* temp_del=head;
if(head==nullptr)
{
cout<<"no element to delete.!";
exit(0);
}
else
{
while(temp_del->next!=nullptr)
{
if(temp_del->next->data==val_del)
{
temp_del->next=temp_del->next->next;
delete temp_del->next->next;
}
temp_del=temp_del->next;
}
}
return 0;
}
int show()
{
node* temp_show=head;
while(temp_show!=nullptr)
{
cout<<temp_show->data<<"\n";
temp_show=temp_show->next;
}
return 0;
}
}info;
int main()
{
int choice,ele; char cont;
rep:
cout<<"1. Insert node at the end\n";
cout<<"2. Insert node at beg\n";
cout<<"3. Delete node\n";
cout<<"4. Show nodes\n";
cout<<"5. Exit\n";
cout<<"enter your choice: ";
cin>>choice;
switch(choice)
{
case 1: cout<<"Enter element: ";
cin>>ele;
info.create_last(ele);
break;
case 2: cout<<"Enter element: ";
cin>>ele;
info.create_beg(ele);
break;
case 3: cout<<"Enter element: ";
cin>>ele;
info.del_node(ele);
break;
case 4: info.show();
break;
case 5: exit(0);
break;
default: cout<<"Wrong choice, Bye.!!";
exit(0);
}
cout<<"Do you want to continue(y/n): ";
cin>>cont;
if(cont=='y'||cont=='Y')
{
goto rep;
}
else
{
cout<<"thank you";
exit(0);
}
return 0;
}

Answer 1

int del_node(int val_del) {
node* temp_del = head;
if(head == nullptr) {
cout<<"no element to delete.!";
exit(0);
} else if(head->data == val_del) {
// If head is to be deleted
head = head->next;
} else {
while(temp_del->next != nullptr) {
if(temp_del->next->data == val_del) {
temp_del->next=temp_del->next->next;
// delete temp_del->next->next; This is wrong deletion
}
temp_del = temp_del->next;
}
}
// delete the node if one found else not
if (temp_del != nullptr)
delete temp_del;
return 0; // This should return true or false, do check what you want as return type
}

Answer 2

The del_node function has two problems:
1) It can't delete the node when the list has exactly 1 element
2) It deletes the wrong element
So let's start with number 1 and look at the code:
if(head==nullptr)
{
cout<<"no element to delete.!";
exit(0);
}
else
{
while(temp_del->next!=nullptr)
Assume that the list contains exactly one element. That means:
a) head is not NULL
b) head->next and therefore also temp_del->next is NULL
so while(temp_del->next!=nullptr) will result in false, i.e. the loop will no be executed. The overall result is that the code does nothing.
Now for number 2. The code is:
if(temp_del->next->data==val_del)
{
temp_del->next=temp_del->next->next; // You want to delete temp_del->next
// but here you change it
delete temp_del->next->next; // so here you delete the wrong node
// there is also an extra ->next
}
You need a temp variable to hold a pointer to the node you want to delete.
You probably want the code to be:
int del_node(int val_del)
{
// Delete elements in the front
while (head!=nullptr && head->data==val_del)
{
node* node_to_delete = head;
head = head->next;
delete node_to_delete;
// return 0; Uncomment if you only want one delete per function call
}
if(head==nullptr) return 0;
// Delete elements not in the front
node* temp_del=head;
while(temp_del->next!=nullptr)
{
if (temp_del->next->data==val_del)
{
node* node_to_delete = temp_del->next;
temp_del->next = temp_del->next->next;
delete node_to_delete;
// return 0; Uncomment if you only want one delete per function call
}
temp_del=temp_del->next;
}
return 0;
}