How to traverse a linked list in c without destroying it in C?

Question

I know that to traverse I can make a temp linked list and go:

while (temp->next!=NULL){
    ...}

However, what if I want to change one position of my actual lists while traversing it? The only way I can think of is to traverse the actual linked list from the head, but wouldn't it destroy my linked list after it reaches the end?

Answer 1

assume you have a list myList, and myList.head points to the first element:

temp = myList.head;
while (temp->next!=NULL){
  // do stuff with this element
  ...
  temp = temp->next; // get the next element
  }

Now you can go right back and do it again - myList is still the same, and

temp = myList.head;

gets you right back to the beginning again.