What characteristic do linked lists have as data structures?

Linked lists are dynamic data structures, which means they can grow and shrink in size during the execution of a program. This contrasts with static data structures, which have a fixed size determined at compile time. In linked lists, elements can be added or removed without the need to allocate or declare the size of the list upfront; they allocate memory as needed, allowing for flexibility in managing data.

Each element in a linked list contains a reference (or link) to the next element, facilitating this dynamic memory allocation. This characteristic is particularly useful in applications where the size of the data set fluctuates or is unknown at compile time. Consequently, the ability to dynamically manage memory makes linked lists advantageous for implementations where frequent insertions and deletions are required.