Thread: C programming - Doubly linked list ! How to fix the error in displaying?

1. You need to learn how to indent code.
SourceForge.net: Indentation - cpwiki

2. main returns an int, not void
SourceForge.net: Void main - cpwiki

3. You need to make an actual copy of the string (using malloc and strcpy).
Just assigning a pointer is NOT a true copy of the string.

Fix your indentation, if your code is hard to read, it's easy to make mistakes, and hard to find or fix them. If it was simply a copy-paste error when posting, please edit your post to fix it, it helps us easily spot your problems.

Also, in the future, please give more details. What is the "error in displaying"? Provide the input you gave the program, the output you expect to see and the output you actually see. Again, it helps us recreate and fix your problem.

Next, ditch that crappy old Turbo C compiler, and get something modern. If you need it for school, I still suggest you get a better compiler for home (GCC, Code::Blocks/MinGW, Pelles C are all free and modern), use that to write your programs, and only use Turbo C to make sure your teacher can compile and run them. Here's a list of problems:

• Don't #include conio.h. It's non-standard, and you aren't using any of it's features.
• Global variables are bad (link). There are times when they're okay, but this is not such a time. Declare them in main and pass them as needed to your functions.
• It's int main(void), and return an int at the end, usually 0 for success (see here for why it matters).
• Your struct/typedef statement is wrong, so it wont even compile. The way you have it, the typedef isn't processed until the end of the struct definition, so when it reads the lines with next and prev, it doesn't know what type 'node' is. next and prev should be declared 'struct node' or you need to forward declare node by separating out the typedef and putting it on a line above the struct definition (see below).
• Don't cast the return value of malloc. It is not required by modern compilers, and can actually hide errors. See here.

Declaring your struct using one of the two methods below (they are 100% equivalent, it's really a question of which you prefer)

Code:

// Alternative 1, put the typedef above the node
typedef struct node      node;
struct node {
    char *str;
    node *next;
    node *prev;
};
// Alternative 2, use the struct name (not the typedef'ed name) for the members
typedef struct node {
    char *str;
    struct node *next;
    struct node *prev;
} node;

Also, process() and traverse() are horrible function names. Pick names that describes what the function does, like insert and print.

Your "displaying" problem, if we're talking about the same one, is it only prints the last node 4 times. That's because when you create and insert a node in the list, you simply point s to a. Thus, when you read the last string into a, every node in the list points to the same array in main(), and thus prints the same contents. You need to allocate space for a copy of the string (e.g. malloc -- remember +1 byte for the null terminator) and copy the string (strcpy).

You have a memory leak in your insert function, you allocate 2 nodes, but you only need one. You actually malloc memory, store the address in temp, and on the very next line, overwrite that address by doing temp=head;. Just node *temp = head; would be fine.

Lastly, make sure you free all your memory before you exit.