What is the time complexity for accessing an element in a linked list?

In a linked list, each element, or node, contains a reference (or pointer) to the next node in the sequence. This structure means that in order to access a specific element within the linked list, one must start at the head of the list and follow the links from one node to the next until reaching the desired element.

As a result, the time it takes to find an element depends linearly on the number of nodes in the linked list. Therefore, in the worst-case scenario—the case where the element is at the end of the list or does not exist at all—it may require traversing all n nodes, leading to a time complexity of O(n).

Unlike an array where elements can be accessed in constant time, O(1), because they are stored in contiguous memory locations, the linked list’s non-contiguous structure necessitates this linear traversal. Hence, the time complexity for accessing an element in a linked list is O(n).