Linked List: Traversal

Task: Visit every node, starting at the head

class Node { int value; Node next; } Node n = head;              // start at the headwhile (n != null) {         // walk to the end    n = n.next;             // follow one pointer} n.next = prev.next;         // insert: point it onprev.next = n;              // then point prev at itprev.next = prev.next.next; // delete: step over one

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Walking a linked list means starting at the head and following one pointer at a time until a node's next is null. There is no shortcut: no node knows its own position, so reaching the fourth value costs four steps. That is the price the structure charges for being cheap to rearrange, and it is why reading a linked list by index is linear.