Delete a node

Question

Ok, so like I have a linkedlist that I wrote the code for (instead of using java's linkedList class) and now I am trying to write a method that will delete a node in the list. I can delete the head node, no problem, and, until I started screwing around with it in an attempt to delete the last node, I could delete anything in the middle. Now, I can't delete anything but the head node and, if I put it back the way it was before, I get null pointer errors as it gets to the end for the deletion...
My books suck for this and I am at the end of my rope, can someone please nudge me down the right path?
Here is the main -
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
public class neverish2Dictionary
static neverishDictionary nd = new neverishDictionary();
static java.util.Vector vlist = new java.util.Vector();
  public static void main (String args[])
     nd.addList("word", "pos", "def", "date", "org");
     nd.addList("aword", "sfgpos", "sfgdef", "dasfgte", "sfgrg");
     nd.addList("bword", "posd", "ddef", "ddate", "odrg");
     nd.addList("cword", "pwos", "dwef", "dwate", "owrg");
     nd.addList("dword", "poss", "defs", "dates", "orsg");
     System.out.println("List:");
     nd.displayAll();
     nd.deleteIt("dword");
     nd.deleteIt("word");
     System.out.println("List with deletions:");
     nd.displayAll();
}Here is the driver -
import java.util.Vector;
public class neverishDictionary
    private Node head;
    public neverishDictionary()
         head = null;
    //begin inner node class
    private class Node
         private String word, pos, def, date, org;
         private Node next;
         public Node(String word1, String pos1, String def1, String date1, String org1)
         //1st constructor
            word = word1;
            pos = pos1;
            def = def1;
            date = date1;
            org = org1;
            next = null;
        public Node(String word1, String pos1, String def1, String date1, String org1, Node nextNode)
        //2nd constructor
            word = word1;
            pos = pos1;
            def = def1;
            date = date1;
            org = org1;
            next = nextNode;
        public String getWord()
            return word;
        public String getPos()
            return pos;
        public String getDef()
            return def;
        public String getDate()
            return date;
        public String getOrg()
            return org;
        public void setNext(Node nextNode)
            next = nextNode;
        public Node getNext()
            return next;
   }//ends the inner class
   public boolean isEmpty()
        return head == null;
   public void addList(String newWord, String newPos, String newDef, String newDate, String newOrg)
        Node curr;
        Node prev;
        Node newNode = new Node (newWord, newPos, newDef, newDate, newOrg);
        if(isEmpty())
            newNode.setNext(head);
            head=newNode;
        else
            newNode.setNext(head);
            head=newNode;
   public void deleteIt(String temp)
        Node prev = head;
        Node curr = head;
        int x = 0;
        while (curr.getNext() != null)
        if (curr.getWord().equals(temp) && curr == head)
                  String resultWord = curr.getWord();
                  String resultPos = curr.getPos();
                  String resultDef = curr.getDef();
                  String resultDate = curr.getDate();
                  String resultOrg = curr.getOrg();
                  head = curr.getNext();
                  //newNode.setNext(head);
                 //head=newNode;
          else
                prev = prev.getNext();  //advance prev and curr 1 node each
                curr = curr.getNext();
           //check for current word
              if(curr.getWord().equals(temp))
            String resultWord = curr.getWord();
                  String resultPos = curr.getPos();
                  String resultDef = curr.getDef();
                  String resultDate = curr.getDate();
                  String resultOrg = curr.getOrg();
                  prev = curr.getNext();
                  curr.setNext(prev);               
             //     prev = prev.getNext();  //advance prev and curr 1 node each
          //      curr = curr.getNext();
     //       if (curr.getWord().equals(temp) && curr.getNext() == null)//this is the end of the list
           //     prev = prev.getNext();  //advance prev and curr 1 node each
          //     curr = curr.getNext();
          //     prev = curr;
          //     prev.setNext(null);
               //curr.setNext(null);
           //     break;
    //if the node you want to remove is the head, do this
      public void displayAll()
      //radixSort(vlist);
        Node prev = head;
       Node curr = head;
       String temp = " ";
       String nextWord = curr.getWord();
       do
                    temp = nextWord.substring(0,1);    //pulls the first letter of the string
                    String chapterHead = temp.toUpperCase(); //uppercases it
               System.out.println("\nChapter " + chapterHead);
                    while(nextWord.startsWith(temp)) //if the string starts with the substring
                 System.out.println(curr.getWord() + " (" + curr.getPos() + ") ");
                 System.out.println(curr.getDef() + " " + curr.getDate() + " " + curr.getOrg() + ".);
                         //print the string
                         prev = curr;
                         curr = curr.getNext();
                            nextWord =  curr.getWord();
               while (curr.getNext() != null);
  }P.S. This is not part of an assignment, this is me taking an assignment about twenty steps further (and harder) than what it was originally.

Answer 1

> else if tail {
do special talk handling for delete
} Oh man, that wine was certainly blurring your living braincells ;-) otherwise you wouldn't have said this.
(did I ever mention medicinal Cognac for alternatives? ;-)
Let Node be something like this -- class Node {
   private Node next; // next element from the list
   public boolean match(Node that) {
      if (that == null) return false;
      // otherwise, check whether or not this matches that.
   // other important stuff here
} Let there be some accessible variable head somewhere, pointing to the head of the list.
The following method, implemented in class Node itself does the job -- public boolean remove() {
   Node p= head;
   if (match(p))
      head= next;
   else
      for (Node p= head; p != null; p= p.next)
         if (match(p.next)) {
            p.next= next;
            break;        
   return p != null;
} kind regards (and did I ever mention that medicinal Cognac before?)
Jos