Question

I coded for doubly linked list implementation in C. In that, after making insertion of values, i am getting duplication of values. i.e. the last value given by me duplicated in all list items.

My code is as follows

header.h

#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
typedef struct doubly_list
{
 int id;
 char *name;
 struct doubly_list *next;
 struct doubly_list *prev;
}node;
void insertfirst(node **,int ,char *);
void insertlast(node **,int ,char *);

doubly_list_insert.c

#include"header.h"
    void insertfirst(node **head,int id,char *name)
    {
     node *tmp=(node *)malloc(sizeof(node));
     if(NULL == tmp)
     {
      printf("\nMemory allocation failed\n");
      exit(1);
     }
     tmp->id=id;
     tmp->name=name;
     tmp->prev=NULL;
     if(*head== NULL)
     {
      tmp->next=NULL;
      *head=tmp;
     }
     else
     {
      tmp->next=*head;
      (*head)->prev=tmp;
      *head=tmp;
     }
    }

    void insertlast(node **head,int id,char *name)
    {
     if(*head==NULL)
     {
      insertfirst(head,id,name);
      return;
     }
     node *last=*head;
     node *tmp=(node *)malloc(sizeof(node));
     if(NULL == tmp)
     {
      printf("\nMemory allocation failed\n");
      exit(1);
     }
     tmp->id=id;
     tmp->name=name;
     tmp->next=NULL;
     while(last->next!=NULL)
     {
      last=last->next;
     }
     last->next=tmp;
     tmp->prev=last;
    }

doubly_list_traverse.c

#include"header.h"
void traverse(node *head)
{
 node *tmp=head;
 if(head==NULL)
 {
  printf("\nList is empty\n");
  exit(1);
 }
 while(tmp!=NULL)
 {
  printf("%d --> %s\n",tmp->id,tmp->name);
  tmp=tmp->next;
 }
}

And, here comes the main file,

main.c

#include"header.h"
int main()
{
 int choice;
 int id;
 char name[15];
 node *root=NULL;
 system("clear");
 while(1)
 {
  printf("\n1.Insert First\n");
  printf("\n2.Insert Last\n");
  printf("\n3.Traverse\n");
  printf("\n4.Exit\n");
  printf("\nEnter your choice : ");
  scanf("%d",&choice);
  switch(choice)
  {
   case 1:
        printf("\nEnter the employee id : ");
        scanf("%d",&id);
        printf("\nEnter the employee name : ");
        scanf("%s",name);
        insertfirst(&root,id,name);
        break;
   case 2:
        printf("\nEnter the employee id : ");
        scanf("%d",&id);
        printf("\nEnter the employee name : ");
        scanf("%s",name);
        insertlast(&root,id,name);
        break;

   case 3:
        traverse(root);
        break;
   case 4:
        return 0;
        break;
   default:
        printf("\nPlease enter valid choices\n");
  }
 }
}

During execution its getting input from me properly,if i insert only one data either first or last.

But if i insert a second one, there comes the problem.
In my case, the id value remains the same. But the 2nd input’s name value is duplicated in 1st value.

Why this is happening? Is it anything wrong in passing arguments?

Answer 1

When you create a new node, you set the node name by just copying the pointer to the name. You have to copy the string not the pointer. The strdup function is perfect for this:

tmp->name=strdup(name);

Remember to free the name when you free the nodes.

Edit

What happens when you call insertfirst the first time, is that the name field of the first node points to the name array in main. When you fetch the name for the second node, the contents of the array in main is updated with the new name, and since the pointer in the first node points to that array it seems like the name is duplicated.