When should you use a linked list?

Knowing what a linked list is matters less than knowing when to reach for one. In everyday code an array (or a growable list) is the right default. A linked list wins in a few specific situations — and interviews love those situations.

Use a linked list when…

You add or remove at the front a lot. A stack, a queue, an undo history: work happens at the ends, and a list does it in O(1) with no shifting.
You insert or delete in the middle at a spot you already hold. If you have a pointer to the node, splicing a new node in (or one out) is O(1). A text editor's buffer or an LRU cache does exactly this.
The size changes a lot and you can't predict it. Nodes are allocated one at a time; there's no capacity to outgrow and no big copy.
You only ever walk through in order. If you always start at the beginning and go forward, losing random access costs you nothing.

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Avoid a linked list when…
A quick decision guide
Where linked lists hide in real software
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When should you use a linked list?

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