Top Linked List Interview Questions to Practice for Your Tech Interview

Linked Lists are an important concept to prepare for technical interviews at FAANG+ companies. Knowing how Linked Lists work is crucial to solving complex problems at FAANG+ interviews. Linked List interview questions are typically asked during coding rounds of technical interviews, i.e., during the technical phone screen and on-site interview rounds.

FAANG+ companies often test your knowledge of different data structures in coding rounds, including arrays, Linked Lists, Graphs, Trees, and Has tables, among other concepts. This article will give you an idea of the type of Linked List interview questions asked in technical interviews.

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Let�s look at some popular Linked List interview questions for your upcoming technical interview. 

Here�s what we�ll discuss in this article:

• What is a Linked List?
• Linked List Interview Questions and Answers for Freshers
• Linked List Interview Questions for Experienced Programmers
• FAQs on Linked List Interview Questions

What is a Linked List?

A Linked List is a linear data structure representing a collection of data elements. Linked Lists are used to store objects of a certain type and can be made to grow or shrink in size at runtime, based on allocated memory.

Linked List Interview Questions and Answers for Freshers

This section will look at some common and basic Linked List interview questions for freshers. 

Q1. Where are free nodes available when a new node is inserted into a Linked List?

When a new node is inserted into a Linked List, free nodes are made available in the Avail List. 

Q2. Which are the four types of Linked Lists?

This is one of the most common Linked List interview questions asked in technical interviews. The four types of Linked Lists include:

• Singly Linked Lists
• Multiple Linked Lists
• Doubly Linked Lists
• Circular Linked Lists
  

Q3. What are some applications of Linked Lists?

Some main applications of Linked Lists include:

• Linked Lists are used to define and implement stacks, graphs, queues, and other types of data structures
• Elements can be inserted at the beginning or end of the list at any time during the program�s execution. 
  

Q4. What is a Singly Linked List?

A Singly Linked List is a type of Linked List that contains the pointer to the next node in the list. A singly linked list is unidirectional. It can be traversed only in one direction from the first to the last node. 

Q5. What is a Doubly Linked List?

A Doubly Linked List can be navigated in both directions - either forward or backward. Doubly Linked Lists are preferred to singly linked lists because they�re easier to implement and debug. A doubly linked list contains pointers to the next node and the previous node, unlike the singly linked list. 

Q6. What do you understand about a circular Linked List?

A Circular Linked List is where the last element in the list points to the first element and vice versa. These types of Linked Lists are flexible - both Singly linked lists and Doubly Linked Lists can be converted into Circular Linked Lists. 

Q7. What fields does a Doubly Linked List comprise?

A Doubly Linked List contains the following main fields:

• Two links to the next and previous nodes in the list
• An integer value
• Pointers to the next and previous nodes
  

Q8. Which header list contains the last node of the list?

The Grounded Header List contains the last node of the list.

Q9. What is meant by traversal in Linked Lists?

Traversal in Linked Lists is the method involved in processing every single element in the list and returning appropriate values during program execution. 

Q10. Which are the pointers required to represent a Singly Linked List?

There are three main pointers used to represent a Singly Linked List. They are:

• A head pointer
• A tail pointer
• A pointer in each node

Linked List Interview Questions for Experienced Programmers

In this section, we�ll look at some advanced Linked List interview questions for experienced programmers. 

1. Write a code to find the middle element in a Singly Linked List
2. Write a code to convert a binary tree into a Singly Linked List
3. Write a code to remove a cycle from a Linked List
4. Write an algorithm to capture similar elements from two different Linked Lists.
5. How do you insert a node at the beginning of a Linked List?
6. How do you insert a node at the end of a Linked List?
7. How do you delete a particular node in a Linked List?
8. Write a code to reverse a Singly Linked List.
9. Write a code to add two numbers represented by Linked Lists
10. Write a function to remove the nth node from a Linked List
11. Write a program to swap adjacent nodes in a Linked List
12. Write a code to reverse a Linked List from position X to position Y
13. For a given Linked List, write a code to return the node value where the cycle in question begins
14. Write a program to flatten a given multi-level linked list
15. Write a code to find the next greater node for a given Linked List
16. Write a code to clone a given Linked List with the next random pointer
17. Write a code to merge two sorted Linked Lists L and K
18. Write a code to remove duplicate elements from a sorted Linked List
19. Write a code to perform insertion sort for the given elements in a Singly Linked List
20. How do you calculate the length of a given Singly Linked List
    

These above Linked List interview questions are everything you need to prepare for your tech interview thoroughly.

FAQs on Linked List Interview Questions

Q1. Why should you prepare Linked List interview questions for technical interviews?

FAANG+ companies frequently ask Linked List interview questions and problems around other data structures, including Graphs, Hash Tables, Trees, Strings, and Arrays, in coding interviews. To ace these interviews, having a good hold on data structures and algorithms concepts is crucial. 

Q2.  What type of memory allocation is relevant while using Linked Lists in programs?

While working with Linked Lists, the type of memory allocation used is dynamic memory allocation.

Q3. What are the fundamental differences between Linked Lists and Arrays?

This is a common Linked List interview question asked in technical interviews. The main differences between Linked Lists and Arrays mostly pertain to memory allocation and traversal. Linked Lists consume more memory when compared to arrays. Traversals are more time-consuming in the case of Linked Lists when compared to Arrays. 

Q4. Are Linked List interview questions asked in systems design interviews?

No, Linked List interview questions are mostly asked in coding interviews and not much in systems design interviews. You can expect coding problems on Linked Lists during Technical Phone Screen and Coding Rounds of On-site interviews.

Q5. Why are Doubly Linked Lists preferred to Single Linked Lists?

Doubly Linked Lists are preferred because they are easier to implement and debug, even though the length of code associated with Doubly Linked Lists is longer. 

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