man-pages/man3/queue.3

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.TH QUEUE 3 2015-02-7 "GNU" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
queue \- implementations of linked lists and queues
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I <sys/queue.h>
header file provides a set of macros that
define and operate on the following data structures:
.IP * 3
singly-linked lists (SLIST)
.IP *
doubly-linked lists (LIST)
.IP *
singly-linked tail queues (STAILQ)
.IP *
doubly-linked tail queues (TAILQ)
.IP *
doubly-linked circular queues (CIRCLEQ)
.PP
All structures support the following functionality:
.IP * 3
Insertion of a new entry at the head of the list.
.IP *
Insertion of a new entry after any element in the list.
.IP *
O(1) removal of an entry from the head of the list.
.IP *
Forward traversal through the list.
.\".IP *
.\" Swapping the contents of two lists.
.PP
Code size and execution time
depend on the complexity of the data structure being used,
so programmers should take care of choosing the appropriate one.
.SS Singly-linked lists (SLIST)
Singly-linked lists are the simplest
and support only the above functionality.
Singly-linked lists are ideal for applications with
large datasets and few or no removals,
or for implementing a LIFO queue.
Singly-linked lists add the following functionality:
.IP * 3
O(n) removal of any entry in the list.
.SS Singly-linked tail queues (STAILQ)
Singly-linked tail queues add the following functionality:
.IP * 3
Entries can be added at the end of a list.
.IP *
O(n) removal of any entry in the list.
.IP *
They may be concatenated.
.PP
However:
.IP * 3
All list insertions must specify the head of the list.
.IP *
Each head entry requires two pointers rather than one.
.PP
Singly-linked tail queues are ideal for applications with
large datasets and few or no removals,
or for implementing a FIFO queue.
.SS Doubly-linked data structures
All doubly linked types of data structures (lists and tail queues)
additionally allow:
.IP * 3
Insertion of a new entry before any element in the list.
.IP *
O(1) removal of any entry in the list.
.PP
However:
.IP * 3
Each element requires two pointers rather than one.
.SS Doubly-linked lists (LIST)
Linked lists are the simplest of the doubly linked data structures.
They add the following functionality over the above:
.IP * 3
They may be traversed backwards.
.PP
However:
.IP * 3
To traverse backwards, an entry to begin the traversal and the list in
which it is contained must be specified.
.SS Doubly-linked tail queues (TAILQ)
Tail queues add the following functionality:
.IP * 3
Entries can be added at the end of a list.
.IP *
They may be traversed backwards, from tail to head.
.IP *
They may be concatenated.
.PP
However:
.IP * 3
All list insertions and removals must specify the head of the list.
.IP *
Each head entry requires two pointers rather than one.
.SS Doubly-linked circular queues (CIRCLEQ)
Circular queues add the following functionality over the above:
.IP * 3
The first and last entries are connected.
.PP
However:
.IP * 3
The termination condition for traversal is more complex.
.SH CONFORMING TO
Not in POSIX.1, POSIX.1-2001 or POSIX.1-2008.
Present on the BSDs.
.I <sys/queue.h>
macros first appeared in 4.4BSD.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR circleq (3),
.BR insque (3),
.BR list (3),
.BR slist (3),
.BR stailq (3),
.BR tailq (3)
.\" .BR tree (3)