circular singly linked list deletion method

Question

I need to write a program that stores names in a circular linked list, then deletes them one by one until there is only one name left. I can't get my delete method to work, can someone help me figure out what's wrong? Here's the code for the method.

public static void delete () throws IOException
{
    String loser;
    boolean found;
    Node temp;
    do
    {
        System.out.println ("Please enter the name of the contestant you want to   eliminate");
        loser = stdin.readLine ();
        head = node;
        found = false;
        do
        {
            node = node.next;
            if (node.data.equals (loser))
            {
                found = true;
                temp = node;
            }
        }
        while (!node.next.equals (head) || found == false);
        if (loser.equals (head))
        {
            head = node.next;
        }
        if (found == true)
        {
            node = node.next;
            temp = null;
            System.out.println ("Elimination sucessful!");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.println ("This name was not found! Please try again.");
        }
        System.out.println ("The contestants left are:");
        do
        {
            System.out.println (node.data);
            node = node.next;
        }
        while (!node.next.equals (head));
        if (node.next.equals (node))
        {
            System.out.println ("There is only one contestant left!");
        }
    }
    while (!node.next.equals (node));
}

Here's a sample of the output when inputting numbers in for the names.

    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    1
    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    2
    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    3
    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    4
    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    5
    Please enter the name of the contestant or 'fin' to stop:
    fin

    Please enter the name of the contestant you want to eliminate
    1
    Elimination sucessful!
    The contestants left are:
    5
    1
    2
    3
    Please enter the name of the contestant you want to eliminate
    3
    Elimination sucessful!
    The contestants left are:
    4
    5
    1
    2
    Please enter the name of the contestant you want to eliminate
    4
    Elimination sucessful!
    The contestants left are:
    3
    4
    5
    1
    Please enter the name of the contestant you want to eliminate
    6

Answer 1

There are many things wrong with your code. The following lines all do something else than what you think they do:

while (!node.next.equals (head) || found == false);

Does nothing (at best) or loops infinitely. I guess it should have reset the node to head but I fail to see why.

if (loser.equals (head))
{
    ...
}

Does nothing. In fact it shouldn't even compile without a big fat warning that the condition will never be true. You are comparing string objects to node objects here. I guess you would have wanted to "repair" head in case of its deletion here.

if (found == true)
{ 
   node = node.next;
   temp = null;
   System.out.println ("Elimination sucessful!");
}

Does not delete anything. It just advances the node pointer. You probably need something along the lines of node.next = node.next.next here, assuming node being the predecessor of the loser temp -- which it is not.

And finally...

 System.out.println ("The contestants left are:");
 do { System.out.println (node.data); node = node.next; }
 while (!node.next.equals (head));

Does not print the remaining contestants (nodes in linked list) but merely those from the current cursor node to the "end". I guess you wanted to iterate from head till "end".

Good luck with your studies. Please tag your questions "homework" if they are.