When to use Stack data structure?

Stack data structures are useful when the order of item is important. It ensures that it does not move onto a new action before completing those previous action.

Following are some use cases of stack data structure:

Reversing:

By default, a data stack will reverse whatever is input. For example, if we wanted to reverse the string “Hello World”. We would push() each character onto the stack and then pop() each character off.

Undo/redo:

This approach can be used by editors to implement the undo and redo functionality. The state of the program can be pushed to a stack each time a change is made. In order to undo, use pop() to remove the last change.

Backtracking:

This can be used when writing an algorithm to solve a problem involving choosing paths, for example, a maze. A path is chosen and if it results in a dead end this latest branch in the path must be removed (pop()) and another route chosen. Each time a path is chosen it is pushed to the stack.

Call stack:

Programming languages use a data stack to execute code. When a function is called it is added to the call stack and removed once completed.