Correctly implementing a singly linked list C++

Question

I have a list with names of employers such as:

Node 1: Jill, Matt, Joe, Bob, Matt

Node 2: Jeff, James, John, J

Answer 1

I've added a find function

typedef struct node{
  string data;
  struct node *net, *prev;
 }node;      


class list {
public:
    list():head(NULL), N(0){}
    ~list(){
    //Implementation for cleanup
     }

void add(string name){  //rather than accessing the global data, use the value passed
    node* p = new node(name);
    p->next=p->prev=NULL;
    node* pp = find(name);
    if(pp==NULL){
      // No match found, append to rear
      if(head==NULL)
        head=p;  //list empty, add first element
      else{
        node* cur=head;
        while(cur->next!=NULL) //Keep looking until a slot is found
          cur=cur->next;
        cur->next=p;
        p->prev=cur;
      }
    }
    else{
        //Match found, detach it from its location
        node* pPrev = pp->prev;
        pPrev->next = pp->next;
        pp->next->prev=pPrev;
        p->next = head; //append it to the front & adjust pointers
        head->prev=p;
    }
    N++;
    }

    //MER: finds a matching element and returns the node otherwise returns NULL
    node* find(string name){
        node *cur=head;
        if(cur==NULL) // is it a blank list?
          return NULL;
        else if(cur->data==head) //is first element the same?
          return head;
        else   // Keep looking until the list ends
          while(cur->next!=NULL){
          if(cur->data==name)
            return cur;
            cur=cur->next;
          }
        return NULL;
}
friend ostream& operator << (ostream& os, const list& mylist);

private:
    int N;
    node *head;

};

Now some may tell you to use the list in STL n never to write your own code coz you can't beat STL, but to me it's good that you are implementing your own to get a clear idea on how it works in reality.