Freeing/destroying a singly linked list with a for loop-CodePudding

I know it is possible to free a singly linked list like below:

void freeList(struct n** head)
{
   struct n* tmp;

   while (*head != NULL)
    {
       tmp = *head;
       *head = (*head)->next;
       free(tmp);
    }
   
   *head = NULL;
}

The above code works perfectly and can be said to be simple enough for its purpose. Is it, however, possible to achieve the same with a for loop instead of a while loop? I have tried alot of quirks but don't seem to getting anywhere.

CodePudding user response：

There are a few ways, for example:

void freeList(struct n** head)
{
   for(struct n *tmp = *head; tmp; tmp = *head) {
   {
       *head = tmp->next;
       free(tmp);
   }
}

However, your while loop is (arguably) easier to read and understand, though it can be simplified:

void freeList(struct n** head)
{
   // moving struct n* tmp to smallest possible scope, in the loop

   while (*head != NULL)
    {
       struct n *tmp = *head;
       *head = tmp->next;
       free(tmp);
    }
   
   // removing *head = NULL because while loop end condition already guarantees this
}