Intersection of Two Linked List -JS

Write a program to find the node at which the intersection of two singly linked lists begins.

For example, the following two linked lists:

A:          a1 → a2
                   ↘
                     c1 → c2 → c3
                   ↗            
B:     b1 → b2 → b3

begin to intersect at node c1.

Notes:

• If the two linked lists have no intersection at all, return null.
• The linked lists must retain their original structure after the function returns.
• You may assume there are no cycles anywhere in the entire linked structure.
• Your code should preferably run in O(n) time and use only O(1) memory.

Credits:
Special thanks to @stellari for adding this problem and creating all test cases.

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Tags

Linked List

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Solution:

- Get the length of each linked lists

- Calc the diff and move the longer one ahead diff steps

- Compare the two

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * function ListNode(val) {
 *     this.val = val;
 *     this.next = null;
 * }
 */

/**
 * @param {ListNode} headA
 * @param {ListNode} headB
 * @return {ListNode}
 */
var getIntersectionNode = function(headA, headB) {
    var lena = 0, lenb = 0;
    
    // get the length of A and B
    var nodea = headA, nodeb = headB;
    while(nodea) {
        nodea = nodea.next;
        lena++;
    }
    while(nodeb) {
        nodeb = nodeb.next;
        lenb++;
    }
    
    // get the diff
    if(lena > lenb) {
        var diff = lena -lenb;
        nodea = headA;
        nodeb = headB;
        while(diff > 0) {
            nodea = nodea.next;
            diff--;
        }
    } else {
        diff = lenb -lena;
        nodea = headA;
        nodeb = headB;
        while(diff > 0) {
            nodeb = nodeb.next;
            diff--;
        }
    }
    
    // starting from nodea and nodeb
    // compare the reference, not the value
    while(nodea !== nodeb) {
        nodea = nodea.next;
        nodeb = nodeb.next;
    }
    
    return nodea;
};