Inserting in the middle of a doubly linked list- Python

Question

I am new to stackoverflow and the Python language and have a question. I know how to implement a singly linked list in Python but am having trouble with doubly linked list, more specifically inserting into the middle of the doubly linked list. Can anyone help me with code to do this? Thank you

Answer 1

Me also, I'm new to Python, but I hope I can help you. So if I got your question correctly, suppose you have some (classic) linked list implementation like this:

# Simple LinkedList class
class LinkedList:
    def __init__(self, data, prev=None, next=None):
        self.data = data
        self.prev = prev
        self.next = next

    # Just a string representation
    def __str__(self):
        if self.next:
            return '%s %s' % (str(self.data), self.next.__str__())
        else:
            return '%s' % str(self.data)

You can easily insert an element to middle, knowing the linked list's ends, by iterating simultaneously from the ends to middle. When the iterators intersect, you add your element:

# Insert to middle logic
def insertToMiddle(data, left, right):
    # Iterate
    while True:
        # Test for intersection
        if left.next is right:
            node = LinkedList(data, left, right)
            left.next = node
            right.prev = node
            return
        elif left is right:
            node = LinkedList(data, left.prev, right.next)
            left.next = node
            right.next.prev = node
            return

        # Next iteration
        left = left.next
        right = right.prev

        # This doesn't actually execute for a right call
        if not left or not right:
            return

Below, you can see a linked list creation, and its representation, before and after the insertion:

# Sample list creation
node1 = LinkedList(1)
node2 = LinkedList(2,node1)
node3 = LinkedList(3,node2)
node4 = LinkedList(4,node3)
node1.next = node2
node2.next = node3
node3.next = node4

# Test
print node1 
insertToMiddle(5, node1, node4)
print node1
insertToMiddle(6, node1, node4)
print node1
insertToMiddle(7, node1, node4)
print node1

Output:

1 2 3 4                #initial
1 2 5 3 4              #inserted 5
1 2 5 6 3 4            #inserted 6, notice it's right to middle
1 2 5 7 6 3 4          #inserted 7

Remark: If your list has an odd number of elements (say 2 3 4), inserting to middle is somehow undefined, so the above function will add immediately to middle's right (2 3 elem 4)