list_for_each_prev_safe(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 list_for_each_prev_safe(9) — Kernel API Manual, bestie edition 🎀

Okay so picture this: you're in the kernel, you're walking a linked list, and you're going backwards — main character energy, honestly — but plot twist, someone might delete the entry you're standing on mid-walk 😭. This macro is the friend who holds your bag while you do it. It's from the Kernel API Manual, and this page is literally just the entry for list_for_each_prev_safe. Let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

list_for_each_prev_safe — iterate over a list backwards, safe against removal of list entry 🦋

Like, you loop in reverse and you're allowed to yeet the current node without the whole thing imploding. Slay.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

list_for_each_prev_safe (pos , n , head );

That's the whole shape of it — three little arguments and you're off 👑

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • pos — the struct list_head to use as a loop cursor. This is your little pointer bestie that tells you where you are in the walk 🫶
  • n — another struct list_head to use as temporary storage. Lowkey just scratch space so you don't lose your place when things get deleted 💀
  • head — the head for your list. The starting-off point, the home base, the head of the whole operation 💖

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

Kernel file ./tools/include/linux/list.h — and like, the entire list gang, fr fr:

ngl, that's a lot of list macros — but every single one of them is a baddie in its own right 💅

Okay that's the page!! It lives in ./tools/include/linux, dated October 2026, and it's filed under list_for_each_prev_safe(9) in the Kernel API Manual. Go backwards, stay safe, and don't forget your temporary storage bestie 🧚💖✨

📦 where this page comes from