Insertion sort on linked list in C?

Question

I've tried searching for a problem similar to mine, but haven't found much help.

I have a linked list of structs of this type:

struct PCB {
    struct PCB *next;
    int reg1, reg2;
};

I first create 10 PCB structs linked together in this way:

for(i=20;i<=30;i++) {
        curr = (struct PCB *)malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
        curr->reg1 = i;
        curr->next  = head;
        head = curr;
    }

I then need to create 20 more PCB structs, but their reg1 values need to be generated using rand(). I'm currently doing that as so:

for (j = 0;j<20;j++) {
        curr = (struct PCB *)malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
        curr->reg1 = rand()%100;
        curr->next  = head;
        head = curr;
    }

However, when inserting these PCB structs into the linked list with random reg1 values, I need to be inserting them in the linked list in order (insertion sort). What is the best way to approach this in just a single-link linked list? Thanks

EDIT: I am now keeping track of the first created struct to be able to loop through the linked list from the beginning:

// create root struct to keep track of beginning of linked list
root = (struct PCB *)malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
root->next = 0;  
root->reg1 = 20;

head = NULL;

// create first 10 structs with reg1 ranging from 20 to 30
for(i=21;i<=30;i++) {
    curr = (struct PCB *)malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
    // link root to current struct if not yet linked
    if(root->next == 0){
        root->next = curr;
    }
    curr->reg1 = i;
    curr->next  = head;
    head = curr;
}

Then, when I'm creating the additional 10 PCB structs that need to be insertion sorted:

// create 20 more structs with random number as reg1 value
    for (j = 0;j<20;j++) {
        curr = (struct PCB *)malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
        curr->reg1 = rand()%100;
        // get root for looping through whole linked list
        curr_two = root;
        while(curr_two) {
            original_next = curr_two->next;
            // check values against curr->reg1 to know where to insert
            if(curr_two->next->reg1 >= curr->reg1) {
                // make curr's 'next' value curr_two's original 'next' value
                curr->next = curr_two->next;
                // change current item's 'next' value to curr
                curr_two->next = curr;
            }
            else if(!curr_two->next) {
                curr->next = NULL;
                curr_two->next = curr;
            }
            // move to next struct in linked list
            curr_two = original_next;
        }
        head = curr;
    }

But this immediately crashed my program.

Answer 1

The "best" way would probably be to implement a new function for the insertion. This function would iterate over the list until it finds a node whose next nodes value is less or equal to the node you want to insert, then put the new node before the next node.

---

How about this function:

void insert(struct PCB **head, const int reg1, const int reg2)
{
    struct PCB *node = malloc(sizeof(struct PCB));
    node->reg1 = reg1;
    node->reg2 = reg2;
    node->next = NULL;

    if (*head == NULL)
    {
        /* Special case, list is empty */
        *head = node;
    }
    else if (reg1 < (*head)->reg1)
    {
        /* Special case, new node is less than the current head */
        node->next = *head;
        *head = node;
    }
    else
    {
        struct PCB *current = *head;

        /* Find the insertion point */
        while (current->next != NULL && reg1 < current->next->reg1)
            current = current->next;

        /* Insert after `current` */
        node->next = current->next;
        current->next = node;
    }
}

You would call it like this:

insert(&root, rand() % 100, 0);