reverse K listnodes

Given a linked list, reverse the nodes of a linked list k at a time and return its modified list.

If the number of nodes is not a multiple of k then left-out nodes in the end should remain as it is.

You may not alter the values in the nodes, only nodes itself may be changed.

Only constant memory is allowed.

For example,
Given this linked list: 1->2->3->4->5

For k = 2, you should return: 2->1->4->3->5

For k = 3, you should return: 3->2->1->4->5

10/31

Recursive solution:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode reverseKGroup(ListNode head, int k) {
        if(head == null)    return head;
        ListNode p = head;
        for(int i=1; i<k && p!=null ; i++ ){
            p = p.next;
        }
        if( p == null)      return head;
        // now p is at the last node to exchange
        ListNode pnext = p.next;
        p.next = null;
        // reverse from head to p
        ListNode q = head;
        while(q != p){
            ListNode qnext = q.next;
            q.next = p.next;
            p.next = q;
            q = qnext;
        }
        
        head.next = reverseKGroup(pnext, k);
        return p;
    }
}

The time complexity:

Note that for each k-node segment, it has to scan k nodes and reverse in O(k) time, so in total time complexity is O(n)

The space complexity:

The worse case is when k=1, and O(n) space is used in that case.

Iterative Solution:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    // the iterative solution
    public ListNode reverseKGroup(ListNode head, int k){
        ListNode p = head, q = findKNode(p,k);
        if(q == null)   return p;
        ListNode ans = q;
        
        ListNode prev = null;
        p = head;
        q = head;
        while(p != null){
            q = findKNode(p,k);
            if(q == null)   break;
            ListNode qnext = q.next;
            // reverse the node from p to q
            ListNode end = p;
            while(p != q){
                ListNode pnext = p.next;
                p.next = q.next;
                q.next = p;
                p = pnext;
            }
            // now q is the head and p is the tail
            // err1: the above statement is incorrect! q stays still while p is finally the same as q! be very careful!
            if(prev != null)    prev.next = q;
            
            prev = end;
            p = qnext;
            q = qnext;
            
        }
        return ans;
        
    }
    
    private ListNode findKNode(ListNode p, int k){
        for(int i=1; i<k && p!= null; i++){
            p = p.next;
        }
        return p;
    }
}