linked list of strings in C - c

Question

I am trying to create a linked list of strings in C and have had problems adding the first Node into the list. For whatever reason my program prints NULL even though I reference the head variable to newNode but it does not copy the string from struct pointer to struct pointer. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct stringData {
char *s;
struct stringData *next;
} Node;
Node *createNode(char *s) {
Node *newNode = (Node *)malloc(sizeof(Node));
newNode->s = s;
newNode->next = NULL;
return newNode;
}
void insert(Node *head, Node *newNode) {
if (head == NULL) {
head->s = newNode->s;
head = newNode;
}
}
void printList(Node *head) {
while (head != NULL) {
printf("%s\n", head->s);
head = head->next;
}
}
int main()
{
Node *head = createNode(NULL);
Node *a = createNode("A");
insert(head, a);
printList(head);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Following code snippet is wrong:
void insert(Node *head, Node *newNode) {...}
...
insert(head, a);
You need to pass the pointer by reference. Currently you are changing local copy (argument).
Fix
Change your insert as:
void insert(Node **head, Node *newNode) {...}
And call as:
insert(&head, a);
What elseAtleast insert (and possibly) more functions are not fool-proof (guaranteed null pointer dereference, else case not handled etc). You need to debug and fix many such cases. Working your approach properly on paper before coding may help.

Answer 2

Here is a modified version of the code that gives an example of inserting new nodes at both the start of a list and the end of a list. In fact, the insert function could be used to insert a new node at any position in the list, since all it needs is a pointer to a link and a pointer to the node to be inserted.
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
typedef struct stringData {
char *s;
struct stringData *next;
} Node;
Node *createNode(char *s) {
Node *newNode = (Node *)malloc(sizeof(Node));
newNode->s = s;
newNode->next = NULL;
return newNode;
}
void insert(Node **link, Node *newNode) {
newNode->next = *link;
*link = newNode;
}
void printList(Node *head) {
while (head != NULL) {
printf("%s\n", head->s);
head = head->next;
}
}
int main(void)
{
Node *head = NULL;
Node *tail = NULL;
Node *n;
n = createNode("B");
// First node at start of list - head is updated.
insert(&head, n);
// First node is also the tail.
tail = n;
n = createNode("A");
// Insert node at start of list - head is updated.
insert(&head, n);
n = createNode("C");
// Insert node at end of list.
insert(&tail->next, n);
// Update tail.
tail = n;
printList(head);
return 0;
}