pointer help

[elite zero]

Having a problem getting these pointers to work. Not sure what im doing wrong, any help is appreciated.

The code keeps creating a head in the linklist instead of making a comparison. It keeps reading head as NULL, so creates a new head.

void insertTokens(listNode* head, char* tokens[])
{

 // Creates new node and inserts tokenized values

 cout << "Inserting: " << tokens[0];
 cout << " " << tokens[1];
 cout << " " << tokens[2] << endl;

 newNode = new listNode;
 newNode-> lastName = tokens[0];  // Node value lastName
 newNode-> firstName = tokens[1]; // Node value firstName
 newNode-> age = tokens[2];       // Node value age
 newNode-> next = NULL;

 listNode* current = head; // set traversal pointer

 cout << newNode-> lastName << newNode-> firstName << newNode-> age << endl;

 cout << "here" << endl;

 if(!current) // If no head node, create one
  {
   head = newNode;
   newNode-> next = NULL;

   cout << head-> lastName << endl;
   cout << "head created" << endl;
  }
 //else if(head-> lastName.compare(newNode-> lastName) > 0)
 else if(head-> lastName > newNode-> lastName)
  {
   newNode-> next = head;
   head = newNode;
   cout << "new head" << endl;
  }
 
 else
  {
	  cout << "there" << endl;
	 
  while((current-> next != NULL) && (current-> next-> lastName < newNode-> lastName)) // Traverse the list
   {
	  current = current-> next;

	if(current-> lastName == newNode-> lastName) // Compare lastName
	 {
	  /*if(current-> firstName == newNode-> firstName) // Compare firstName
	   {
	    
	   }
	  else //if(current-> firstName < newNode-> firstName)
	   {
	    newNode-> next = current-> next;
	    current-> next = newNode;
	   }*/
		 reportDuplicate();
     }	
	 
	else if(current-> lastName < newNode-> lastName)
	 {
	  newNode-> next = current-> next;
	  current-> next = newNode;
	 }
	cout << "node" << endl;
   }//end while(traversal)
 }//end else

}//end void insertTokens()
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  // Possible node activity //

  // newNode-> lastName;   -value of lastName
  // newNode-> firstName;  -value of firstName
  // newNode-> age;        -value of age
  // newNode-> next;       -pointer to next node

//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[codekiddy]

 if(!current) // If no head node, create one
  {
   head = newNode; 
   newNode-> next = NULL;

   cout << head-> lastName << endl;
   cout << "head created" << endl;
  }
 //else if(head-> lastName.compare(newNode-> lastName) > 0)
 else if(head-> lastName > newNode-> lastName)
  {
   newNode-> next = head; // here next node is assigned to parent node
   head = newNode;  // here parent node is assigned back to child node ??
   cout << "new head" << endl;
  }

Is the above commented part supposed to do this? (assigning something that's already assigned)

[elite zero]

That is to keep head at the head of the list. The input file contains last names, first names, and ages and have to be put in order.

If a new node that is less than the one that is currently the head node, link its next to the current head node, then make it the head node.