does this (existe element ) function work properly using recursion-CodePudding

i created a function to detect if a word does exist in a linked list with recursion.

i wanted to know if its correct or not .

bool does_exist_in_list(index *head,char word[25]){

    while( head != NULL ){
       //to detect the first element 
       if(strcmp(word,head->word) == 0)
           return true;

       else{ 
       //to go to the next element
           return does_exist_in_list(head->next,word);
           }
    }

}

because im using it in a long code so i dont know if there is a problem in it

CodePudding user response：

The while loop is misleading, as the function always returns during the first iteration.

Additionally, if head is NULL, the function fails to return a value at all, invoking Undefined Behaviour.

bool does_exist_in_list(index *head, char word[25])
{
    if (!head)
        return false;
    
    if (0 == strcmp(word, head->word))
        return true; 
    
    return does_exist_in_list(head->next, word);
}