NYUer | LeetCode19 Remove Nth Node From End of List

LeetCode19 Remove Nth Node From End of List

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Author: Stefan Su
Create time: 2022-10-29 00:28:17
Location: New York City, NY, USA

Description Medium

Given the head of a linked list, remove the n^th node from the end of the list and return its head.

Example 1

Input: head = [1,2,3,4,5], n = 2
Output: [1,2,3,5]

Example 2

Input: head = [1], n = 1
Output: []

Example 3

Input: head = [1,2], n = 1
Output: [1]

Constrains

• The number of nodes in the list is sz.
• 1 <= sz <= 30
• 0 <= Node.val <= 100
• 1 <= n <= sz

Analysis

We use two pointers to solve this problem. The fast pointer moves first, the range is n+1. And then, slow and fast pointers move together until fast pointer is None. At this time, slow pointer is at the previous node of that node which should be removed. Use slow.next = slow.next.next to remove the node. The most important thought in this problem is move fast pointer n+1 steps.

Solution

• Two pointers version

# Definition for singly-linked list.
# class ListNode(object):
#     def __init__(self, val=0, next=None):
#         self.val = val
#         self.next = next
class Solution(object):
    def removeNthFromEnd(self, head, n):
        """
        :type head: ListNode
        :type n: int
        :rtype: ListNode
        """
        dummy_head = ListNode(0)
        dummy_head.next = head
        fast = slow = dummy_head

        for _ in range(n + 1):  # key condition
            fast = fast.next
        
        while fast != None:
            fast = fast.next
            slow = slow.next
        
        slow.next = slow.next.next

        return dummy_head.next

Hopefully, this blog can inspire you when solving LeetCode19. For any questions, please comment below.