Doubly-Linked Lists

Doubly-Linked Lists — linked lists containing integer values or pointers to data, with the ability to iterate over the list in both directions

Synopsis

#include <glib.h>

struct              GList;

GList *             g_list_append                       (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data);
GList *             g_list_prepend                      (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data);
GList *             g_list_insert                       (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         gint position);
GList *             g_list_insert_before                (GList *list,
                                                         GList *sibling,
                                                         gpointer data);
GList *             g_list_insert_sorted                (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         GCompareFunc func);
GList *             g_list_remove                       (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);
GList *             g_list_remove_link                  (GList *list,
                                                         GList *llink);
GList *             g_list_delete_link                  (GList *list,
                                                         GList *link_);
GList *             g_list_remove_all                   (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);
void                g_list_free                         (GList *list);
void                g_list_free_full                    (GList *list,
                                                         GDestroyNotify free_func);

GList *             g_list_alloc                        (void);
void                g_list_free_1                       (GList *list);
#define             g_list_free1

guint               g_list_length                       (GList *list);
GList *             g_list_copy                         (GList *list);
GList *             g_list_reverse                      (GList *list);
GList *             g_list_sort                         (GList *list,
                                                         GCompareFunc compare_func);
gint                (*GCompareFunc)                     (gconstpointer a,
                                                         gconstpointer b);
GList *             g_list_insert_sorted_with_data      (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         GCompareDataFunc func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);
GList *             g_list_sort_with_data               (GList *list,
                                                         GCompareDataFunc compare_func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);
gint                (*GCompareDataFunc)                 (gconstpointer a,
                                                         gconstpointer b,
                                                         gpointer user_data);
GList *             g_list_concat                       (GList *list1,
                                                         GList *list2);
void                g_list_foreach                      (GList *list,
                                                         GFunc func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);
void                (*GFunc)                            (gpointer data,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

GList *             g_list_first                        (GList *list);
GList *             g_list_last                         (GList *list);
#define             g_list_previous                     (list)
#define             g_list_next                         (list)
GList *             g_list_nth                          (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);
gpointer            g_list_nth_data                     (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);
GList *             g_list_nth_prev                     (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);

GList *             g_list_find                         (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);
GList *             g_list_find_custom                  (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data,
                                                         GCompareFunc func);
gint                g_list_position                     (GList *list,
                                                         GList *llink);
gint                g_list_index                        (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);

void                g_list_push_allocator               (gpointer allocator);
void                g_list_pop_allocator                (void);

Description

The GList structure and its associated functions provide a standard doubly-linked list data structure.

Each element in the list contains a piece of data, together with pointers which link to the previous and next elements in the list. Using these pointers it is possible to move through the list in both directions (unlike the Singly-Linked Lists which only allows movement through the list in the forward direction).

The data contained in each element can be either integer values, by using one of the Type Conversion Macros, or simply pointers to any type of data.

List elements are allocated from the slice allocator, which is more efficient than allocating elements individually.

Note that most of the GList functions expect to be passed a pointer to the first element in the list. The functions which insert elements return the new start of the list, which may have changed.

There is no function to create a GList. NULL is considered to be the empty list so you simply set a GList* to NULL.

To add elements, use g_list_append(), g_list_prepend(), g_list_insert() and g_list_insert_sorted().

To remove elements, use g_list_remove().

To find elements in the list use g_list_first(), g_list_last(), g_list_next(), g_list_previous(), g_list_nth(), g_list_nth_data(), g_list_find() and g_list_find_custom().

To find the index of an element use g_list_position() and g_list_index().

To call a function for each element in the list use g_list_foreach().

To free the entire list, use g_list_free().

Details

struct GList

struct GList {
  gpointer data;
  GList *next;
  GList *prev;
};

The GList struct is used for each element in a doubly-linked list.

gpointer data;

 holds the element's data, which can be a pointer to any kind of data, or any integer value using the Type Conversion Macros.

GList *next;

 contains the link to the next element in the list.

GList *prev;

 contains the link to the previous element in the list.

g_list_append ()

GList *             g_list_append                       (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data);

Adds a new element on to the end of the list.

Note

The return value is the new start of the list, which may have changed, so make sure you store the new value.

Note

Note that g_list_append() has to traverse the entire list to find the end, which is inefficient when adding multiple elements. A common idiom to avoid the inefficiency is to prepend the elements and reverse the list when all elements have been added. 

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/* Notice that these are initialized to the empty list. */
GList *list = NULL, *number_list = NULL;

/* This is a list of strings. */
list = g_list_append (list, "first");
list = g_list_append (list, "second");

/* This is a list of integers. */
number_list = g_list_append (number_list, GINT_TO_POINTER (27));
number_list = g_list_append (number_list, GINT_TO_POINTER (14));

list :

 a pointer to a GList

data :

 the data for the new element

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_prepend ()

GList *             g_list_prepend                      (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data);

Adds a new element on to the start of the list.

Note

The return value is the new start of the list, which may have changed, so make sure you store the new value. 

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/* Notice that it is initialized to the empty list. */
GList *list = NULL;
list = g_list_prepend (list, "last");
list = g_list_prepend (list, "first");

list :

 a pointer to a GList

data :

 the data for the new element

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_insert ()

GList *             g_list_insert                       (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         gint position);

Inserts a new element into the list at the given position.

list :

 a pointer to a GList

data :

 the data for the new element

position :

 the position to insert the element. If this is negative, or is larger than the number of elements in the list, the new element is added on to the end of the list.

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_insert_before ()

GList *             g_list_insert_before                (GList *list,
                                                         GList *sibling,
                                                         gpointer data);

Inserts a new element into the list before the given position.

list :

 a pointer to a GList

sibling :

 the list element before which the new element is inserted or NULL to insert at the end of the list

data :

 the data for the new element

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_insert_sorted ()

GList *             g_list_insert_sorted                (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         GCompareFunc func);

Inserts a new element into the list, using the given comparison function to determine its position.

list :

 a pointer to a GList

data :

 the data for the new element

func :

 the function to compare elements in the list. It should return a number > 0 if the first parameter comes after the second parameter in the sort order.

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_remove ()

GList *             g_list_remove                       (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);

Removes an element from a GList. If two elements contain the same data, only the first is removed. If none of the elements contain the data, the GList is unchanged.

list :

 a GList

data :

 the data of the element to remove

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

g_list_remove_link ()

GList *             g_list_remove_link                  (GList *list,
                                                         GList *llink);

Removes an element from a GList, without freeing the element. The removed element's prev and next links are set to NULL, so that it becomes a self-contained list with one element.

list :

 a GList

llink :

 an element in the GList

Returns :

 the new start of the GList, without the element

g_list_delete_link ()

GList *             g_list_delete_link                  (GList *list,
                                                         GList *link_);

Removes the node link_ from the list and frees it. Compare this to g_list_remove_link() which removes the node without freeing it.

list :

 a GList

link_ :

 node to delete from list

Returns :

 the new head of list

g_list_remove_all ()

GList *             g_list_remove_all                   (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);

Removes all list nodes with data equal to data. Returns the new head of the list. Contrast with g_list_remove() which removes only the first node matching the given data.

list :

 a GList

data :

 data to remove

Returns :

 new head of list

g_list_free ()

void                g_list_free                         (GList *list);

Frees all of the memory used by a GList. The freed elements are returned to the slice allocator.

Note

If list elements contain dynamically-allocated memory, you should either use g_list_free_full() or free them manually first.

list :

 a GList

g_list_free_full ()

void                g_list_free_full                    (GList *list,
                                                         GDestroyNotify free_func);

Convenience method, which frees all the memory used by a GList, and calls the specified destroy function on every element's data.

list :

 a pointer to a GList

free_func :

 the function to be called to free each element's data

Since 2.28

g_list_alloc ()

GList *             g_list_alloc                        (void);

Allocates space for one GList element. It is called by g_list_append(), g_list_prepend(), g_list_insert() and g_list_insert_sorted() and so is rarely used on its own.

Returns :

 a pointer to the newly-allocated GList element.

g_list_free_1 ()

void                g_list_free_1                       (GList *list);

Frees one GList element. It is usually used after g_list_remove_link().

list :

 a GList element

g_list_free1

#define             g_list_free1

Another name for g_list_free_1().

g_list_length ()

guint               g_list_length                       (GList *list);

Gets the number of elements in a GList.

Note

This function iterates over the whole list to count its elements.

list :

 a GList

Returns :

 the number of elements in the GList

g_list_copy ()

GList *             g_list_copy                         (GList *list);

Copies a GList.

Note

Note that this is a "shallow" copy. If the list elements consist of pointers to data, the pointers are copied but the actual data is not.

list :

 a GList

Returns :

 a copy of list

g_list_reverse ()

GList *             g_list_reverse                      (GList *list);

Reverses a GList. It simply switches the next and prev pointers of each element.

list :

 a GList

Returns :

 the start of the reversed GList

g_list_sort ()

GList *             g_list_sort                         (GList *list,
                                                         GCompareFunc compare_func);

Sorts a GList using the given comparison function.

list :

 a GList

compare_func :

 the comparison function used to sort the GList. This function is passed the data from 2 elements of the GList and should return 0 if they are equal, a negative value if the first element comes before the second, or a positive value if the first element comes after the second.

Returns :

 the start of the sorted GList

GCompareFunc ()

gint                (*GCompareFunc)                     (gconstpointer a,
                                                         gconstpointer b);

Specifies the type of a comparison function used to compare two values. The function should return a negative integer if the first value comes before the second, 0 if they are equal, or a positive integer if the first value comes after the second.

a :

 a value.

b :

 a value to compare with.

Returns :

 negative value if a < b; zero if a = b; positive value if a > b.

g_list_insert_sorted_with_data ()

GList *             g_list_insert_sorted_with_data      (GList *list,
                                                         gpointer data,
                                                         GCompareDataFunc func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

Inserts a new element into the list, using the given comparison function to determine its position.

list :

 a pointer to a GList

data :

 the data for the new element

func :

 the function to compare elements in the list. It should return a number > 0 if the first parameter comes after the second parameter in the sort order.

user_data :

 user data to pass to comparison function.

Returns :

 the new start of the GList

Since 2.10

g_list_sort_with_data ()

GList *             g_list_sort_with_data               (GList *list,
                                                         GCompareDataFunc compare_func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

Like g_list_sort(), but the comparison function accepts a user data argument.

list :

 a GList

compare_func :

 comparison function

user_data :

 user data to pass to comparison function

Returns :

 the new head of list

GCompareDataFunc ()

gint                (*GCompareDataFunc)                 (gconstpointer a,
                                                         gconstpointer b,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

Specifies the type of a comparison function used to compare two values. The function should return a negative integer if the first value comes before the second, 0 if they are equal, or a positive integer if the first value comes after the second.

a :

 a value.

b :

 a value to compare with.

user_data :

 user data to pass to comparison function.

Returns :

 negative value if a < b; zero if a = b; positive value if a > b.

g_list_concat ()

GList *             g_list_concat                       (GList *list1,
                                                         GList *list2);

Adds the second GList onto the end of the first GList. Note that the elements of the second GList are not copied. They are used directly.

list1 :

 a GList

list2 :

 the GList to add to the end of the first GList

Returns :

 the start of the new GList

g_list_foreach ()

void                g_list_foreach                      (GList *list,
                                                         GFunc func,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

Calls a function for each element of a GList.

list :

 a GList

func :

 the function to call with each element's data

user_data :

 user data to pass to the function

GFunc ()

void                (*GFunc)                            (gpointer data,
                                                         gpointer user_data);

Specifies the type of functions passed to g_list_foreach() and g_slist_foreach().

data :

 the element's data.

user_data :

 user data passed to g_list_foreach() or g_slist_foreach().

g_list_first ()

GList *             g_list_first                        (GList *list);

Gets the first element in a GList.

list :

 a GList

Returns :

 the first element in the GList, or NULL if the GList has no elements

g_list_last ()

GList *             g_list_last                         (GList *list);

Gets the last element in a GList.

list :

 a GList

Returns :

 the last element in the GList, or NULL if the GList has no elements

g_list_previous()

#define             g_list_previous(list)

A convenience macro to get the previous element in a GList.

list :

 an element in a GList.

Returns :

 the previous element, or NULL if there are no previous elements.

g_list_next()

#define             g_list_next(list)

A convenience macro to get the next element in a GList.

list :

 an element in a GList.

Returns :

 the next element, or NULL if there are no more elements.

g_list_nth ()

GList *             g_list_nth                          (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);

Gets the element at the given position in a GList.

list :

 a GList

n :

 the position of the element, counting from 0

Returns :

 the element, or NULL if the position is off the end of the GList

g_list_nth_data ()

gpointer            g_list_nth_data                     (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);

Gets the data of the element at the given position.

list :

 a GList

n :

 the position of the element

Returns :

 the element's data, or NULL if the position is off the end of the GList

g_list_nth_prev ()

GList *             g_list_nth_prev                     (GList *list,
                                                         guint n);

Gets the element n places before list.

list :

 a GList

n :

 the position of the element, counting from 0

Returns :

 the element, or NULL if the position is off the end of the GList

g_list_find ()

GList *             g_list_find                         (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);

Finds the element in a GList which contains the given data.

list :

 a GList

data :

 the element data to find

Returns :

 the found GList element, or NULL if it is not found

g_list_find_custom ()

GList *             g_list_find_custom                  (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data,
                                                         GCompareFunc func);

Finds an element in a GList, using a supplied function to find the desired element. It iterates over the list, calling the given function which should return 0 when the desired element is found. The function takes two gconstpointer arguments, the GList element's data as the first argument and the given user data.

list :

 a GList

data :

 user data passed to the function

func :

 the function to call for each element. It should return 0 when the desired element is found

Returns :

 the found GList element, or NULL if it is not found

g_list_position ()

gint                g_list_position                     (GList *list,
                                                         GList *llink);

Gets the position of the given element in the GList (starting from 0).

list :

 a GList

llink :

 an element in the GList

Returns :

 the position of the element in the GList, or -1 if the element is not found

g_list_index ()

gint                g_list_index                        (GList *list,
                                                         gconstpointer data);

Gets the position of the element containing the given data (starting from 0).

list :

 a GList

data :

 the data to find

Returns :

 the index of the element containing the data, or -1 if the data is not found

g_list_push_allocator ()

void                g_list_push_allocator               (gpointer allocator);

Warning

g_list_push_allocator has been deprecated since version 2.10 and should not be used in newly-written code. It does nothing, since GList has been converted to the slice allocator

Sets the allocator to use to allocate GList elements. Use g_list_pop_allocator() to restore the previous allocator.

Note that this function is not available if GLib has been compiled with --disable-mem-pools

allocator :

 the GAllocator to use when allocating GList elements.

g_list_pop_allocator ()

void                g_list_pop_allocator                (void);

Warning

g_list_pop_allocator has been deprecated since version 2.10 and should not be used in newly-written code. It does nothing, since GList has been converted to the slice allocator

Restores the previous GAllocator, used when allocating GList elements.

Note that this function is not available if GLib has been compiled with --disable-mem-pools

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