Techniques are described to address run-time issues and other considerations of data structure reorganization operations executed while decoding a polar code. A receiving entity (e.g., a user equipment or a base station) partitions an array, or other data structure, into sections. The array is used during a list decoding operation of a polar code. As the array is populated with path elements for candidate paths, each section is organized and a permutation pattern is calculated for each section. Upon identifying a section reorganization event, the array or subsections of the array are reorganized according the permutation patterns determined for each section.