Department of

Computer Science and Engineering

DATA STRUCTURES
Unit 1-Linear structures
Year/Sem : II/III
Subject Code: 1151CS102
Topic : Applications of stack
Faculty Name : Mrs.Vijitha.S
Date : 26.08.2020
School of Computing
Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of
Science and Technology
 Application of stack
Application of stack:

 Stacks can be used for expression evaluation.

 Stacks can be used to check parenthesis matching
in an expression.
 Stacks can be used for Conversion from one form of
expression to another.
 Stacks can be used for Memory Management.
 Stack data structures are used in backtracking
problems.

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 Application of stack
Expression Evaluation:

Stack data structure is used for evaluating the given

expression. For example, consider the following
expression
5 * ( 6 + 2 ) - 12 / 4

Since parenthesis has highest precedence among

the arithmetic operators, ( 6 +2 ) = 8 will be evaluated
first.
Now, the expression becomes 

5 * 8 - 12 / 4
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 Application of stack
Expression Evaluation:

* and / have equal precedence and their associativity

is from left-to-right. So, start evaluating the expression
from left-to-right.

5 * 8 = 40 and 12 / 4 = 3

Now, the expression becomes 40 - 3 

And the value returned after the subtraction operation

is 37
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 Infix expressions

Infix expressions:

Example: X+Y

 Where X,Y-Operands and +--Operators

 Operators are written in between their operands.

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 Prefix expressions

Prefix expressions:

Example: +XY

 Where X,Y-Operands and +--Operators

 Operators are written before their operands.

and Project
Management
(SEPM)

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 Postfix expressions

Postfix expressions:

Example: XY+

 Where X,Y-Operands and +--Operators

 Operators are written after their operands.

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 Evaluation of Infix,prefix,postfix

 Conversion of prefix to infix

 Conversion of prefix to postfix

 Conversion of postfix to prefix

 Conversion of infix to prefix

 Conversion of infix to postfix

26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 8
 Prefix to infix
Algorithm for Prefix to Infix:

 Read the Prefix expression in reverse order (from right to

left).
 If the symbol is an operand, then push it onto the Stack.
 If the symbol is an operator, then pop two operands from the
Stack.
Create a string by concatenating the two operands and the
operator between them.
string = operand1 + operator + operand2
And push the resultant string back to Stack
 Repeat the above andsteps
Project until end of Prefix expression.
Management
(SEPM)

26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 9

 Prefix to infix EXPRESSION STACK
C-BA+* D
Given string:
-BA+* C ---OP1
*+AB-CD D ---OP2
BA+* C-D
Steps: A+* B
C-D
 Reverse the string.
DC-BA+* +* A
 Scan ‘D’ B
 Scan ‘C’ C-D
 Scan ’-’
* A+B
 Scan ‘B’ and Project
 Scan ‘A’ Management
(SEPM)
C-D
 Scan ‘+’ END (A+B)*(C-D)
 Scan ’*’
26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 10
 Prefix to postfix
Algorithm for Prefix to Postfix:

 Read the Prefix expression in reverse order (from right to left)

 If the symbol is an operand, then push it onto the Stack.
 If the symbol is an operator, then pop two operands from the
Stack.
Create a string by concatenating the two operands and the
operator after them.
string = operand1 + operand2 + operator
And push the resultant string back to Stack
 Repeat the above steps until end of Prefix expression.
and Project
Management
(SEPM)

26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 11

 Prefix to postfix EXPRESSION STACK
C-BM+* N
Given string:
-BM+* C ---OP1
*+MB-CN N ---OP2
BM+* CN-
Steps: M+* B
 Reverse the string. CN-
NC-BM+* +* M
 Scan ‘N’ B
 Scan ‘C’
CN-
 Scan ’-’
 Scan ‘B’ * MB+
and Project
 Scan ‘M’ Management
(SEPM) CN-
 Scan ‘+’ END MB+CN-*
 Scan ’*’
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 Postfix to prefix

Algorithm for Postfix to prefix:

 Read the Postfix expression from left to right

 If the symbol is an operand, then push it onto the Stack
 If the symbol is an operator, then pop two operands from
the Stack.
Create a string by concatenating the two operands and the
operator before them.
string = operator + operand1 + operand2.
And push the resultant string back to Stack.
 Repeat the above andsteps
Project until end of Prefix expression.
Management
(SEPM)

26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 13

 EXPRESSION STACK
Postfix to prefix
H+CF-* E
Given string:
+CF-* H ----OP2
EH+CF-* E ----OP 1
CF-* +EH
Steps: F-* C
+EH
 Scan from left to
right -* F
 Scan ‘E’ C
 Scan ‘H’
+EH
 Scan ’+’
 Scan ‘C’ * -CF
and Project
 Scan ‘F’ Management
(SEPM)
+EH
 Scan ‘-’
END *+EH-CF
 Scan ’*’
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 Evaluation of Infix,prefix,postfix

LOW LOW

HIGH LOW * / ----highest

priority

+ - -----lowest
priority
HIGH HIGH

LOW HIGH
and Project
Management
(SEPM)

26.06.2020 Department of Computer Science and Engineering 15

 Infix to prefix
Algorithm for Infix to prefix:

 First, reverse the given infix expression.

 Scan the characters one by one.
 If the character is an operand, copy it on to the output.
 If the character is a left parenthesis, then push it to the stack.
 If the character is an right parenthesis, pop the elements in
the stack until we find the corresponding left parenthesis.
 If the character scanned is an operator
 If the operator has precedence greater than or equal to
the top of the stack, push the operator to the stack.
 If the operatorandhas
Projectprecedence lesser than the top of the
stack, pop the operator and push into the output.
Management
(SEPM)
 Reverse the final expression.   

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 Input Stack Output
Infix to prefix
( (
consider the infix expression  D ( D
(A+B)*(C+D) + (+ D
C (+ DC
Reverse the string
) (+) DC
(D+C)*(B+A)
) DC+
* * DC+
( *( DC+
Prefix expression is *+AB+CD B *( DC+B
+ *(+ DC+B
A *(+ DC+BA
) *(+) DC+BA
) * DC+BA+
END DC+BA+*
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 Infix to postfix
Algorithm for Infix to postfix:

 Scan the characters one by one.

 If the character is an operand, copy it on to the output.
 If the character is a left parenthesis, then push it to the stack.
 If the character is an right parenthesis, pop the elements in
the stack until we find the corresponding left parenthesis.
 If the character scanned is an operator
 If the operator has precedence greater than or equal to
the top of the stack, push the operator to the stack.
 If the operator has precedence lesser than the top of the
stack, pop theandoperator
Project and output it to the prefix notation
output and then check the above condition again with the
Management
(SEPM)
new top of the stack.
   
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 Infix to postfix Input Stack Output
A A
consider the infix expression  + + A
A+(B*C-(D/E^F)*G)*H ( +( A
B +( AB
Steps:
* +(* AB

 C +(* ABC
Scan ‘A’
 Scan ‘+’ - +(- ABC*
 Scan ‘(’ ( +(-( ABC*
 Scan ‘B’ D +(-( ABC*D
 Scan ‘*’ / +(-(/ ABC*D
 Scan ‘C’ E +(-(/ ABC*DE
 Scan ‘-’ and Project
^ +(-(/^ ABC*DE
Management
 Scan ‘(’ (SEPM) F +(-(/^ ABC*DEF
 Scan ‘D’
) +(-(/^) ABC*DEF
 Scan ‘/’
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 Infix to postfix
Input Stack Output
consider the infix expression 
A+(B*C-(D/E^F)*G)*H ) +(- ABC*DEF^/
* +(-* ABC*DEF^/
 Scan ‘E’ G +(-* ABC*DEF^/G
 Scan ‘^’ ) +(-*) ABC*DEF^/G
 Scan ‘F’ ) + ABC*DEF^/G*-
 Scan ‘)’ * +* ABC*DEF^/G*-
 Scan ‘*’ H +* ABC*DEF^/G*-H
 Scan ‘G’ END ABC*DEF^/G*-H*+
 Scan ‘)’
 Scan ‘*’
 Scan ‘H’ and Project
Management
(SEPM)
Postfix expression is
ABC*DEF^/G*-H*+
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EVALUATING POSTFIX EXPRESSION

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 BALANCING PARENTHESIS

• Declare a character stack S.
• Now traverse the expression string exp.
 If the current character is a starting bracket (‘(‘ or ‘{‘ or ‘[‘)
then push it to stack.
 If the current character is a closing bracket (‘)’ or ‘}’ or ‘]’) then
pop from stack and if the popped character is the matching starting
bracket then fine else parenthesis are not balanced.
• After complete traversal, if there is some starting bracket left in
stack then “not balanced”
Balancing Parenthesis
Department of Computer Science and Engineering 22
 BALANCING PARENTHESIS

VALID INPUTS INVALID INPUTS

{} {(}
({[]}) ([(()])
{[]()} {}[])
[{({}[]({ [{)}(]}]
})}]
Department of Computer Science and Engineering 23
Thank You

Department of Computer Science and Engineering