I'm trying to teach myself C by coding up a linked list. I'm new to pointers and memory management and I'm getting a bit confused. I have this code: /* Remove a node from the list and rejiggle the pointers */ void rm_node(struct node **listP, int index) { struct node *prev; struct node *n = *listP; if (index == 0) { *listP = *listP->next; free(n); return; } for (index; index > 0; index--) { n = n->next; if (index == 2) { prev = n; } } prev->next = n->next; free(n); } to remove an element from the list. If I want to remove the first node, I still need some way of referring to the list, which is why the listP arg is a double pointer, so it can point to the first element of the list and allow me to free the node that used to be the head. However, when I try to dereference listP to access the pointer to the next node, the compiler tells me error: request for member ‘next’ in something not a structure or union . What am I doing wrong here? I think I might be hopelessly mixed up..?