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Deletion is an important operation in a linked list that involves removing nodes from the list. There are various approaches to deleting elements from a linked list, depending on the position of the node to be deleted and the desired behavior of the list.

1. Deleting at the beginning

To delete the first node of a linked list, we simply update the head to point to the next node.

TEXT/X-JAVA
1public void deleteAtBeginning() {
2    if (head != null) {
3        head = head.next;
4    }
5}

2. Deleting at the end

To delete the last node of a linked list, we need to traverse the list until we reach the second-to-last node. Then, we update the next field of the second-to-last node to null.

TEXT/X-JAVA
1public void deleteAtEnd() {
2    if (head == null || head.next == null) {
3        head = null;
4    } else {
5        Node current = head;
6        while (current.next.next != null) {
7            current = current.next;
8        }
9        current.next = null;
10    }
11}

3. Deleting at a specific position

To delete a node at a specific position within a linked list, we need to traverse the list until we reach the position-1. Then, we update the next field of the previous node to skip the node to be deleted.

TEXT/X-JAVA
1public void deleteAtPosition(int position) {
2    if (position == 0) {
3        deleteAtBeginning();
4    } else {
5        Node current = head;
6        for (int i = 0; i < position - 1 && current != null; i++) {
7            current = current.next;
8        }
9        if (current != null && current.next != null) {
10            current.next = current.next.next;
11        }
12    }
13}

These are some basic methods for deleting elements from a linked list. Depending on the situation and requirements, additional logic may be needed to handle special cases, such as deleting multiple occurrences of a value or deleting nodes based on specific conditions.

By using these methods, you can effectively delete elements from a linked list and maintain the structure as needed. It's important to consider the time and space complexity of each method when performing deletions, especially in scenarios involving large lists or performance-critical applications.

JAVA
OUTPUT
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